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EDUCATION 



EDUCATION 



AN INTRODUCTION 

TO ITS 

PRINCIPLES AND THEIR PSYCHOLOGICAL 
FOUNDATIONS 




BY 

H. HOLMAN, M.A. (Cantab.) 

FORMERLY SCHOLAR OF GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE AND ONE TIME 

PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION AND MASTER OF METHOD AT THE 

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF WALES ABERYSTWYTH 

(I ... Iftftfi) 

NEW YORK 

DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 

1896 



Lb 1 05 1 

Ml 



Copyright, 1S96, 
By Dodd, Mead and Company. 



The purpose of education is to give to the body 
and to the soul all the beauty and all the per- 
fection of which they are capable. — Plato. 

The general problem of education is to develop 
children as imperfect beings into perfect ones. 

Aristotle. 
Man cannot become man, save through educa- 
tion. — Kant. 

The masters of education hold in their hands the 
future of the world. — Leibnitz. 



PREFACE 



My aim throughout this book is to give the beginner a 
clear and intelligible outline of education, as a science 
only, and at the same time to suggest, but not to discuss, 
some of its deeper and more philosophic aspects. I hope, 
therefore, that it will prove both more and less than an 
ordinary text-book. More, in that I have attempted to 
discuss, rather than dogmatise about, the principles of 
education and their origin ; and less, inasmuch as I 
have carefully avoided summing up every important 
point in a formula. Those who are likely to read this 
book will, I feel sure, prefer to do their own work in 
their own way. 

The general conception of the book is, so far as I am 
aware, an entirely original one. I am fully conscious 
of the fact that the attempt to set forth a pure science 
of education, in the sense in which I believe that it 
should, and can, be done, can at the present moment 
prove, at best, but a more or less helpful suggestion 
towards a more perfect solution of the problem. No 
one could be more anxious or eager to see such a result 
than myself. That this book should in any way con- 
tribute to it would be a great joy and gratification to 



VI PREFACE 

me. Even should it do so at the cost of its own 
pretensions, this would, I trust, be only a pleasing 
regret to the fond author of its being. 

My ideal has been a very high one, for I have striven 
to find a scientific basis for pure educational theory, 
and to directly and systematically develop therefrom 
the great educational principles ; thus deriving that 
body of definite and dependent educational truths 
which constitutes the science of education. 

The evolutionary principle is taken as the unifying 
element, and my endeavour has been to show that 
the great educationists, from Plato and Aristotle to 
Comenius, and from Comenius to Herbart and Spencer, 
have all been working towards such an organism of 
knowledge. 

How far I have succeeded in so ambitious an attempt 
I must leave my readers and critics to determine. My 
original indebtedness to the great writers on education 
is, of course, incalculable; but I should like to add 
that I worked out my general view of the science 
quite independently, and afterwards appealed to the 
standard works for authoritative confirmation of my 
conclusions. The authors to whose writings I have 
referred are mentioned in the text, and most of the 
books are included in the list at the end of the volume. 

I venture to anticipate what I cannot but consider as 
captious criticism, by protesting that I am no " arm- 
chair theorist." I have been a practical teacher for 
nearly a quarter of a century ; and my experience has 
included the teaching of infants : of boys and girls in 
elementary and secondary schools, and in private 



PREFACE Vll 

families : and of men and women at a University, and a 
University College. I have taught an East End gamin 
the elements of the three B's, and have coached 
students for honours examinations at Cambridge and 
other Universities. And I have had charge of the 
training of teachers, and a short experience as an 
inspector of schools. 

It is from reflection upon the meaning of such expe- 
riences, which at least ought to be instructive and 
helpful, and from a study of writings on education and of 
the mental sciences, that I have endeavoured to formulate 
what seem to me to be the great central truths of a 
pure science of education. 

More directly this book is the outcome of lectures 
given to students in the Day Training Department of the 
University College of Wales, Aberystwyth : a Teachers' 
Holiday Course at the University Extension College, 
Exeter : and the University Extension Students' Sum- 
mer Meeting at Oxford. I should be very glad to 
think that it might be of some slight use to those who 
heard my lectures, and so prove some apology for many 
shortcomings in them. 

I have endeavoured to observe, as far as I could 
those educational principles which I have laid down as 
applying to the writing of text-books ; and, as my 
readers will find, I have not hesitated to avail myself 
of " the principle of repetition." 

Since we, unfortunately, have no convenient word in 
the English language which signifies both " he " and 
" she," I have been obliged, reluctantly, to continue the 
egotism of my sex, and always to speak of " man " and 



Vlll PREFACE 

" he." But I should like it to be clearly understood 
that " woman " and " she " may be read, in such places, 
by whoever so wills. 

I will only add that, whilst I would not echo the 
delightfully quaint and ingenuous sentiment of an old 
writer on education, who thus concludes his preface: 
" If any man shall oppose, and detract from these my 
labours ; forasmuch, as he shall therein (as I take it) 
shew himself an enemy to the common good of the 
present age, and of all posterity (the benefit whereof, 
as God is my witness, I have intended principally in 
these my endeavours), I can but be sorry, and pray for 
him ;" I can, on the other hand, most heartily subscribe 
to him when he says, " I oppose myself to none. Shew 
my oversight in love, and I will amend it. I prescribe 
to none : no, not the meanest ; but only desire to learn 
of all the learned, to help the unlearned." 

H. H. 

Woodfokd Green, September 1895. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

The Nature and Scope op Education 

Origin of Education, 1 — Scope of Education, 9— Defini- 
tion of Education, 20 — Function of Education, 32 — Ideas 
of Great Thinkers, 38 — Educational Ends, 41 



PAGE 

1 



CHAPTER II 

Mind, and the General Nature of Mental Life . 42 

What Mind is, 42— Mind Elements, 45— General Nature 
of Mind, 48— Definitions of Psychology and Mind, 51 
— How to Study Mind, 52 — Sensations and Presentations, 
53— Feeling, 55— Emotion, 58— Passion, 59— Feeling as 
Egoistic and Altruistic, 60— Knowing, 63— Attention, 64 
— Pre-adjustment of Attention, 66 — Memory, 67 — Sub- 
consciousness, 69 — Association, 71 — Attention and 
Association, 73— Willing, 75— Actire and Passive Willing, 
77 — Spontaneous or Automatic Willing, 77 — Instinctive 
Willing, 79— Elements of Willing, 81— Habit, 85— Char- 
acter and Individuality, 86 — The Normal, 87 



X CONTENTS 

CHAPTER III 

PAGE 

General Principles of Education ... 88 

Growth and Development, 89 — The Principle of Stimula- 
tion, 89 — The Principle of Nourishment, 94 — The Prin- 
ciple of Pleasure, 97 — The Principle of Inter-relation, and 
Inter-dependence, 100 — Educational Values, 107 — Disci- 
pline Value, 108— Culture Value, 112— Utility Value, 113 
— The Principle of Kepetition, 117 — 'Ihe Principle of 
Preparation, 119— The Principle of Interest, 122 -The 
Principle of Habituation, 132 — The Principle of Self- 
Activity, 137 — The Inter-relation of the Principles, 145- 
Some General Remarks, 14" 

CHAPTER IV 

The General Characteristics of Mental Develop- 
ment ........ 153 

The General Nature of Mental Development, 156 — The 
Development of Feeling, 160— Of Knowing, 172— Of 
Willing, 181 — Some General Remarks on Development, 197 

CHAPTER V 

General Principles of Education {continued) . 201 

The Principle of Development : (1) From the Known to 
tie Unknown, 202 — (2) From the Simple to the 
Complex, 207— (3) From the Concrete to the Abstract, 
212— The Principle of Doing, 224— The Principle of 
Sympathetic Control, 236— The Principle of Pain, 256— 
Some General Remarks, 266 



CONTENTS X 1 

CHAPTER VI 

PAGE 

The Development of Ideas ..... 275 

General Development of Ideas, 277 — The Elements of 
Ideas, 284— (1) Presentations, 285— (2) Percepts, 290— 
(3) Concepts, 300 — Ideas and Attention, Apperception, 
307 — Ideas and Language, 312 — Some General Remarks, 
318 

CHAPTER VII 

General Principles of Education (continued) . 322 

The Principle of Development, 322 — (l)From the Concrete 
to the Abstract, 322— (2) From Particular to General, 328 / 
— The Principle of Analysis and Synthesis, 335 — The 
Principle of Symbolism, 351 — Some General Remarks, 
364 

CHAPTER VIII 

The Development of Knowledge . . . .868 

Sources of Knowledge, 368— (1) Intuition, 369— (2) Reflec- 
tion, 374 — (3) Communication, 374 — Stages of Develop- 
ment in Knowledge, 380 -(1) Clear Knowledge, 385— (2) 
Distinct Knowledge, 387 — (3) Adequate Knowledge, 389 

CHAPTER IX 

General Principles of Education (continued) . 392 

The Principle of Development, 392 — (1) From the Con- 
crete to the Abstract, 393 — (2) From the Known to the 
Unknown, 393 — (3) From the Simple to the Complex, 



Xll CONTENTS 

395— (4) From the Particular to the General, 399 — (5) 
From the Indefinite to the Definite, 401 — The Principle 
of Information, 409 — The Principle of Symbolism, 417 — 
The Principle of Gradation, 425 -Some General Remarks, 



CHAPTER X 

Determinants of Mental Growth and Development 438 
General Determinants, 438 — Original Character of the 
Human Being, 444 — (1) Racial Elements, 445 — (2) 
Individual Elements, 448— Experiences, 452 — (1) Envi- 
ronment, 452 — (2) Stimuli, 459 



CHAPTER XI 

General Principles of Education (continued) . 461 
The Principle of Collectivism, 463 — The Average and the 
Normal, 474 — The Principle of Individualism, 475 — The 
Principle of Proportion, 489 — The Principle of Pleasure, 
496 — The Principle of Inter-dependenceand Inter-relation, 
503 — Some General Remarks, 518 



APPENDIX 
A Siiort List of Books 523 

INDEX .,,,.,,, 525 



EDUCATION 

/ CHAPTER I 

THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF EDUCATION 

In beginning the study of any subject it is well to have 
some clear and accurate general ideas about the kind 
of things with which we shall have to deal ; and why, 
and how, there has come to be a body of knowledge in 
connection with such a subject. Since then, we are 
about to consider the science of education, we will first 
ask, and endeavour to answer, the question : " What is 
the science of education, and what is its origin ? " 

Origin of Education. — Let us begin by discussing the 
origin of education. Like all sciences, education has 
grown out of the knowledge which comes from the 
everyday experiences of what we call ordinary facts. 
There were children to be dealt with, and it was 
necessary that they should learn to do certain things 
for themselves, both for their own sakes, and for the 
convenience and comfort of their parents. Also per- 
sons of all ages found it profitable to learn from each 
other how to do certain actions, and would, therefore. 



2 EDUCATION 

notice, and remember, those ways in which it was easiest 
to show, and to learn, how to do these things. 

Thus there would come to be traditional methods 
of what we now speak of as instruction. But these 
would have little, if anything, of a plan or system in 
them. That is to say, primitive man would, as a rule, 
set about showing a child or adult, how to do a certain 
action, or would tell him some piece of information 
about a certain object, only when the actual necessity 
arose. 

But later on in the history of the race, when the life 
of a tribe or a nation became more complex ; when it 
was no longer possible for a man (or family) to do 
everything for himself, in the way of providing all he 
needed, i. e. , when there arose the practice of one 
man making, or providing, one kind of commodity 
only, and exchanging this for other things which he 
desired, which were produced by other persons, who 
similarly confined their efforts to the production of 
particular objects — when, in the words of economics, 
division of labour had arisen — then it was seen to be 
a good thing to have young people constantly assisting 
at some one of the different occupations, so that they 
might both help the capable workers, and themselves 
in time become such, by the aid of information and 
imitation. 

Instruction would thus become much more definite 
and connected, but it would still be far from anything 
like a clear and comprehensive system. 

So far, however, there is little more than a rule-of- 
thumb way of showing how certain actions are per- 



NATURE AND SCOPE 3 

formed, and of giving information to those who are 
young, or ignorant of some particular subject. When, 
however, a written language has been invented, and 
the stores of practical knowledge are recorded in 
writing, it becomes easier to get some knowledge by 
reading than by talking, and it is therefore necessary 
to teach the young, and others, the meaning of the 
written signs. Now, this work of teaching the use 
and meaning of writing to all the children of a family 
would soon become a heavy burden to the parents, 
and would seriously interfere with the work by 
which most of them would obtain their means of 
living. 

Hence would arise those who made it their special 
work in life to impart as much knowledge as possible to 
the young people who might be given over to their 
charge for such a purpose. In this way we arrive at 
the schoolmaster and the school. 

The schoolmaster in primitive times was the 
priest, for he was the person who had both learning 
and leisure, and a particular interest in imparting 
knowledge. 

A very interesting illustration of this sort of thing 
in a primitive race is given in H. E. Schoolcraft's book 
on " The Indian in his Wigwam. " In speaking of 
dancing as a national institution, he says : " Public 
opinion is called to pressing objects by a dance, at 
which addresses are made, and in fact, moral instruc- 
tion and advice are given to the young, in the 
course of their being assembled at social" feasts and 
dances. " 



4 EDUCATION 

He also points out that the priests, or medicine men, 
are the learned persons in these savage tribes. He 
says : " The priests and prophets have, more than any- 
other class, cultivated their national songs and dances. 
. . They are generally the composers of the songs, 
and the leaders in the dance and ceremonies, and it 
is found that their memories are the best stored, not 
only with the sacred songs and chants, but also with 
the traditions and general lore of the tribes. " He also 
mentions that the priests cultivated the art of picture- 
writing, and used it as a system of mnemonics for their 
medicine and mystical songs. 

The following is his account of aii instruction dance : 

" There is, however, another feast instituted, at cer- 
tain times during the [winter] season, to which young 
persons only are invited, or admitted, except the enter- 
tainer and his wife, and generally two other aged per- 
sons, who preside over the feast and administer its 
rites. The object of this feast seems to be instruction, 
to which the young and thoughtless are induced to 
listen for the anticipated pleasure of the feast. 

" Before this feast commences, the entertainer, or 
some person fluent in speech, whom he has selected for 
the purpose, gets up and addresses the youth of both 
sexes on the subject of their course through life. He 
admonishes them to be attentive and respectful to the 
aged, and to adhere to their counsels : never to scoff at 
the decrepit, deformed, or blind : to obey their parents : 
to fear and love the Great Spirit, who is the giver of life 
and every good gift. These precepts are dwelt upon at 
great length, and generally enforced by the examples 



NATURE AND SCOPE 5 

of a good man and woman and a bad man and woman, 
and after drawing the latter, it is ever the custom to 
say : ' You will be like one of these ! ' At the end of 
every sentence, the listeners make a general cry of haa. 
When the advice is finished, an address, or kind of 
prayer to the Great Spirit is made, in which he is 
thanked for the food before them, and for the continu- 
ance of life. The speaker then says : ' Thus the Great 
Spirit supplies us with food ; act justly and conduct 
well, and you will ever be thus bountifully supplied.' 
The feast then commences, and the elders relax their 
manner and mix with the rest, but are still careful to 
preserve order, and a decent, respectful behaviour 
among the guests." 

The element of material reward : the experience and 
special selection of the speaker : the general responses 
of the listeners : the regulated formality of the proceed- 
ings : the ethical character of the instruction : the 
appeal to concrete illustrations : the religious observ- 
ance : and the dignified unbendings of the elders so as 
to share, whilst they control, the pleasures of the youth, 
and thus cultivate friendly personal acquaintance with 
their pupils : are all points full of interest and sugges- 
tiveness, and they strikingly correspond, in a broad sense, 
with some of the features of the school-life of to-day. 

The work of the teacher would still be very unsyste- 
matic. He would constantly be blindly trying to find 
out some way of doing what he wished ; and after many 
failures he might be so fortunate as to hit upon a satis- 
factory method of bringing about what was desired 
In the course of time such successes would practically 



6 EDUCATION 

provide the means of securing" all the results which 
he was concerned to obtain. Then such methods 
would be likely to become traditional. Others who 
wished to do the same kind of work would learn 
from him, or copy his methods, and so a more or less 
complete and effective body of rules would be recog- 
nised as best fitted to bring about certain practical 
results. In this way would be developed the art of 
teaching, in its most primitive form. 

Thus we find that in the earliest civilisation of which 
we have any historical knowledge, viz., the Babylonian, 
there was a series of tablets speciaiiy designed to teach 
the yourig and ignorant. These tablets began with 
syllabaries or spelling-tablets, which were followed by 
tablets of phrases, and completed with tablets of general 
information. In the early history of China a book was 
written which gave detailed instructions as to what was 
to be taught to boys and girls during particular years 
of their lives. In the early days of Hindu civilisa- 
tion the details of the method of oral teaching became 
traditional and authoritative, and are described in their 
sacred books. 

The art is, at such a stage, purely empirical, being 
based entirely upon what practical experience has 
shown to be the most successful way of acting so as to 
cause children and others, to acquire knowledge in the 
easiest, quickest, and most effective way. It is also 
unorganised, for the rules are not put in such an order, 
and so related to each other, that they each bring about 
their proper results in the best form and at the best 
time : thus providing for, depending upon, and co- 



NATURE AND SCOPE 7 

operating- with each other, in such a way that the final 
result is as complete and perfect as possible — in a 
similar way to that in which the parts of a watch are 
connected with, dependent upon, and co-active with, 
each other in bringing about a perfect measurement of 
time. But the art is more or less systematic, for there 
is some recognised order of doing things, both with 
regard to the complete series of actions, and also with 
regard to the^details of each particular action, however 
imperfect or mistaken such order may be. 

The art becomes more and more developed and syste- 
matic, through the discoveries of intelligent workers as 
time goes on ; but it will remain for some time in the 
purely empirical stage. Men know how to bring about 
certain effects, long before they know exactly why those 
effects are brought about by their actions. The former 
sort of knowledge is often the result of happy accidents, 
but the latter can only come from a thorough investiga- 
tion into the nature of things, and the discovery of the 
general laws or principles which underlie their activities 
and interactivities, i.e., we must find out what are the 
separate parts of an object, what are the qualities it 
possesses, what are the various things it can do and be, 
and how it responds to all kinds of influences which 
affect it. When we have such a knowledge of any 
class of objects, and have organised it in the sense 
already described, we term such a body of knowledge a 
science. 

It will be clear that scientific knowledge can in the 
first instance only come through actual experience of 
things, and is therefore very likely to arise in connec- 



8 EDUCATION 

tion with, an art. For not only does an art require a 
more or less systematic practical knowledge of objects, 
and what it is possible to do with them, but the greater 
the knowledge of the objects the more can the art be 
improved and extended. It is only as men discover 
the right way of acting that they obtain what they 
want. Now the right way is that way which is most 
in accord with the nature and powers of the object 
which is being acted upon. 

For example, if we have a piece of clay, a piece of 
wood, and a piece of iron, each of which we wish to 
cause to take a certain shape, the more we know of the 
nature of each the easier will it be to effect our pur- 
pose. If we have thoroughly investigated the qualities 
of each, we shall know that water, steam, and fire will 
make each of them, respectively, ductile ; and that, 
when they have been subjected to such influences, a 
sufficient amount of pressure properly applied will 
cause them to take almost any shape. 

Such a truth would force itself upon the most 
earnest, thoughtful, and original of those who practised 
the art ; and they would do all they could to obtain 
the deeper and wider knowledge which would give 
them more power and more opportunity. In the 
history of education such men as Comenius, Pestalozzi, 
Froebe], Locke, Eousseau, &c, have done this sort of 
work. In this way there has come to be a body of 
knowledge of the nature and powers of the things 
which we have to do with in education which has been 
more or less completely organised, and forms the 
science of education. 



NATURE AND SCOPE 9 

When a science has been developed, generally 
through an art, then the art itself takes its highest 
form ; for there is no longer the mere groping in the 
dark, but a clear-sighted knowledge of what powers 
and influences we can use, and what will be the best 
way in which to use them so as to make the powers of 
the object acted upon so to respond as to produce just 
those results we desire, in their greatest perfection and 
amount. One of the best illustrations of this will be 
found in the medical art of to-day as compared with 
that of even twenty years ago, whilst as compared with 
that of a hundred years ago the advance is simply 
marvellous; and this progress is mainly due to the 
great development of the sciences of physiology, 
anatomy, biology, chemistry, &c. &c. 

The science of education has been the slowest in its 
development, owing to the slow progress in one of the 
sciences of mind, viz., psychology. So also the art of 
teaching has necessarily been tardy in its growth. Now, 
however, the art is rapidly extending and improving, 
owing to the great strides which have been taken in the 
advance of psychology, and also to the general recogni- 
tion that not only must all arts be based upon scientific 
truths, but that they are most effectively practised by 
those who have the proper scientific knowledge. 
Hence it is that technical education (so-called), tech- 
nical colleges, scientific training, &c, are so much 
advocated by earnest and thoughtful people. 

The Scope of Education. — Next let us inquire into the 
scope of education. We must fix upon what things we 
have to deal with, in what sense, and, as far as is possible, 



10 EDUCATION 

to what extent. We say "fix upon," because, although 
there are great obvious distinctions in nature, yet the 
exact points at which we hold these differences to 
begin and end are, after all, entirely in our own choice ; 
and, so far as these limits are concerned, purely arbi- 
trary. There are no absolute divisions in nature, 
though there are infinite differences upon which divi- 
sions can be based. We can to a certain extent 
include as much or as little as we please in any 
division, and can call it by whatever name we choose. 
But, once having fixed these limits, we are then bound 
by our knowledge of the nature and relations of the 
things themselves. 

Some account of the different ideas of the scope of 
education which have prevailed at different times will 
emphasise this point, and will help us more clearly to 
define our own position. It must always be the case 
that education is directly related to practical life; for, 
after all, it is our life and well-being which we are 
always trying to further in all our actions. 

The earliest form and object of education were 
naturally the domestic. The aim was to fit the child 
for the family life by such training and telling as would 
be sufficient for the purpose. This would of course 
involve very little more than an occasional act of 
guidance on the part of the parents, as the instinctive 
and imitative power of the child would be sufficient 
to enable it to acquire most of the knowledge and 
modes of action required in the primitive life of the 
race. As civilisation advanced, the parents would have 
to do much more in the way of guidance, and the child 



NATURE AND SCOPE 11 

would have to make greater mental efforts, with the 
result that there would be some increase of the general 
mental powers. 

This domestic education would, however, only be a 
part of a more general education which would follow 
it, and for which it would largely prepare, viz., the 
tribal or national education. The life of the family 
was only a part of the life of the community. Hence 
the chief aim would be to fit the individual for taking 
his part in the collective life ; for not only would the 
general life be dependent upon the power and fitness 
with which each was able to take part in it, but the 
individual life would be almost wholly dependent upon 
the collective life for its existence and general well- 
being. This is especially true of the primitive tribal 
life, and is evidenced by the extreme rigour and 
severity of its forms of government. Thus in ancient 
Persia, which may be described as a military nation, 
the youths were taught running, shooting with the 
bow, javelin-throwing, stone-slinging, riding, hunting, 
the making of long marches, the foraging for food, 
farming, digging for roots, and the making of fight- 
ing and hunting implements. So they provided for 
their public and private life, and made each a help 
to the other. Similarly in ancient China the youths 
were carefully taught the details of the duties and 
etiquette of private and public life ; and the girls 
learnt from governesses how to manage all the affairs 
of the house, how to make silks and garments, and 
how to behave. The need of such teaching is brought 
home to us in the present day by the disastrous effects 



12 EDUCATION 

of social strife, and it is recognised that education for 
citizenship is of the first importance to the welfare of a 
nation. 

The next great general phase of education is what 
we may call professional education. When division of 
labour arose, then education would take a more special 
and individual form. In the form of what we now term 
apprenticeship, and in ordinary and special schools, 
there would be a special preparation for special work 
and interests. Previous to this stage of development 
in the history of the race, every individual would, 
roughly, have much the same kind of things to do, as 
all were workers and fighters, though some were 
leaders and others followers. This special form of educa- 
tion would apply throughout the tribe or nation. The 
different trades had their regular apprentices, the 
priesthood had its novices, the knights had their 
squires, &c. 

It is interesting to notice that, in both ancient Egypt 
and China, whilst education was literary in its charac- 
ter, success in the schools was the recognised qualifica- 
tion for all official posts. In modern times we find 
that Pestalozzi's first notion of education was to train 
children in farm-work. 

All that education meant with regard to the fore- 
going would be the training in doing, and the telling 
of items of information, and was thus chiefly of the 
nature of what is known as technical education. There 
was no scientific knowledge, in the sense in which we 
understand it, though there was much of the elements 
of sound philosophy amongst the chosen few; and 



NATURE AND SCOPE 13 

there could not, therefore, be much in the way of 
scientific explanation and demonstration in teaching. 

So long as life remained comparatively simple and 
limited, it was easy and economical to make education 
a part of the ordinary life ; but when life became more 
and more complex and varied, education became more 
and more separated from the ordinary life, and was 
transformed into a definite and more or less systematic 
preparation for the practical life of the adult. 

To this end children were taught something of the 
arts of reading, writing, and figuring; a good deal 
about the literature of their own country (in ancient 
times), or of other countries (in mediaeval and modern 
times), since it was the best source of general infor- 
mation, and of anything approaching special knowledge 
on individual subjects ; and with these they learnt 
more or less of the arts and athletics of the times. 
But there was very great variety with regard to details, 
in different countries and at different times ; and also 
there were very different objects in view, according as 
the administrative power was religious or secular, local 
or national, private or public. This stage we may call 
the period of liberal education, inasmuch as the curri- 
culum was somewhat general, and the aim was more or 
less free from any special training for a particular voca- 
tion. Such a stage of development was reached in the 
history of ancient Babylonia, Egypt, and China. 

At this stage of development education has practi- 
cally remained up to the present day. For, although 
individual discoverers, philosophers, and scientists, have 
recognised and expounded the truths of scientific 



14 EDUCATION 

education, there has been nothing approaching a 
general recognition of these truths, and much less any 
endeavour systematically to make use of them in teach- 
ing, till within the last few years. Teaching as an art 
has made many departures, and has accumulated a vast 
amount of practical wisdom, numerous traditional 
methods, and great successes. The materials contained 
in these are just those which are necessary for the 
forming of a science, but at the same time they present 
the most serious obstacles to its success, for none are 
more difficult to convince than those prejudiced by the 
practical success of traditional usages, and no barrier is 
more difficult to surmount than a machinery which is 
the growth of centuries. 

There is an immense literature of school text-books, 
of books on school methods, organisation and govern- 
ment, of writings ou the function of schools in relation 
to religion, the state, social life, &c, and of biographies 
and histories of men and movements connected with 
education. These make for the earnest student, a rich 
mine wherein he may find the true ore from which 
comes the pure gold of truth ; but there is much that 
is worthless, much that simply hinders, and not a little 
that is utterly false and misleading, which must first 
be cleared away. 

How then, out of these materials, has come the 
science of education ? We may say, in general terms, 
that after men have learnt, through what their senses 
tell them, of the parts, powers and practical value, of 
certain kinds of things, they go on, by the aid of their 
higher powers of judgment and knowing, to understand 



NATURE AND SCOPE 15 

— in a more or less complete sense — that such things have 
certain qualities and higher powers, that these qualities 
and powers depend upon the nature of the things, that 
they have certain relations to each other and to the 
whole, that each part has its proper work to do with 
regard to the whole, and that the whole has certain 
capacities and relations to other wholes of the same 
class and of other classes. When the whole of the 
knowledge of such matters has been written, and the 
parts of it have been so arranged and related to each 
other as to show most clearly, completely, and con- 
nectedly, what is the meaning and value of it, then we 
have a science. In other words : science is organised 
knowledge, or knowledge built up into a self-consistent 
and dependent whole — in a manner similar to that of 
the watch as above described. 

Men have come to consider education in such a way 
as this, and as a result there is a science of education, 
but this is a modern product. It is, like all the 
sciences, necessarily incomplete. Much remains to be 
done in the way of correction and progress, and some- 
thing must always so remain. 

Before anything like a science of education was 
possible, people had to decide exactly what they would 
mean by the word. No doubt the general opinion was 
largely formed, as all general ideas must be, by the 
nature of the practical problem which had to be dealt 
with. Life has become so many sided, the stores of 
knowledge on all kinds of subject so vast, the nature of 
such knowledge so profound, and the daily life of an 
ordinary person requires such power, readiness, and 



16 EDUCATION 

accuracy of well-informed judgment, that only a strong 
and capable mind and body can fit a person to take a 
successful part in modern thought and action. There- 
fore it is expedient that the mind and body should be 
developed as rapidly and perfectly as possible, solely 
with a view to getting the maximum of capacity, 
ability, and power both in their more passive and more 
active aspects, i.e., with regard to their ready and right 
response to whatever affects them, and also in respect to 
those initiating, organising, and interpreting activities 
which are peculiar to themselves. 

We may say that nowadays the mind of the 
ordinary man has to do what only the mind of the 
scholar and sage did a few centuries ago ; just as the 
office-boy of to-day knows more in the way of pure 
knowledge than did the ordinary philosopher of the 
middle ages. In short, the intellectual life of this 
century is as much more comprehensive, rapid, and 
productive than that of a hundred years ago, as is the 
present commercial life more comprehensive, rapid, and 
productive than that of the past. 

In primitive times it was possible for a man to know 
all that was known, and to do all the different kinds of 
actions that were done ; but now no one man knows 
even all that is known about any one subject, and 
certainly cannot do all the different kinds of actions 
required in some complex arts. 

The demands upon both mind and body are vastly 
more numerous and more difficult now than formerly, 
and this fact has brought about the necessity for a 
systematic preparation of the mind for purely mental 



NATURE AND SCOPE 17 

work, as such, i.e., as entirely separate, so far as is 
possible, from that which causes it to act. This is 
illustrated in a case where one is justified in saying : 
u Your reasoning is quite right, but your facts are all 
wrong ! " Similarly the body needs special training 
and discipline to fit it to do its own special work most 
effectively, and thus be able most efficiently to co- 
operate with the mind. 

This then is the way in which education is now 
regarded. It is, on its practical side, the systematic 
training of the mind so as best to fit it to do its own 
proper work, viz., receiving, responding to, recognising, 
and reasoning about, all that happens to a human 
being in the form of experience, in the quickest, com- 
pletest, easiest, and most effective manner possible. 
And so also with the body and its proper work. Of 
course the mind and the body can only be brought to 
work so through being guided and controlled in their 
ordinary and necessary workings. So that, if we wish 
to train a mind to the greatest possible skill and power 
in acquiring knowledge, we must proceed to give it 
knowledge of the best kind, and in the best way ; but 
we must give it, primarily at least, solely with the 
object of so giving it that the work of the mind in 
acquiring it makes it (the mind) more powerful and 
independent in getting further knowledge. 

If we desire to get the body to do its own work most 
perfectly, we must guide and control its actions — ■ 
through giving the appropriate knowledge — in such a 
way that it gets the power always to act to its own 
greatest advantage, and to be of the greatest possible 

B 



18 EDUCATION 

use to the mind in supplying it fully and freely with 
sensations. That is, there must be a specific and 
systematic method, based upon sound scientific know- 
ledge, for furthering the development of mind and 
body. Hence, what the science of education has to do is 
to organise all the knowledge we have, and can discover, as 
to the nature and laws of the different kinds of things 
which are involved in the processes suggested. 

That the above fairly represents ordinary well- 
informed opinion on the subject will be clear if we 
consider what is, and what is not, accepted as true 
education. Most persons who have thought about the 
subject would probably agree in denying that the name 
education should be applied to : (i) the knowledge- 
giving and mind-developing effects, whether temporary 
or permanent, of the casual or invariable and inevitable 
influences which come from personal example, official 
and other regulations, physical and social surroundings, 
&c, for these lack the element of organised purpose and 
system, and if the name be applied to such then every- 
thing is education ; or to (2) mere instruction, as such, 
i.e., pure information giving or telling, in which there is 
no attention given to what will be the developing effect it 
has upon the mind, or even whether it has any at all — 
or imparts any real knowledge — so that in its worst 
form we call this kind of work cram ; or to (3) mere 
manual, physical, technical — e.g., carpentry, military 
drill, engineering — training, as such, i.e., mere instruc- 
tion and practice in doing certain acts which constitute 
the technical system of a craft, a profession, or an art, 
for if such were education, then the learning to make 



NATURE AND SCOPE 19 

a boot would be education, and the shoemaker who 
shows an apprentice how to do his work an educator. 

On the other hand, most people would agree that the 
highest and truest idea of education is expressed by 
the following: "to call into exercise and perfect the 
powers of the mind " (Dr. J. Ward) ; " the harmonious 
and equable evolution of the human powers, by a 
metbod based on the nature of mind " (Stein) ; and 
" the development of the physical, intellectual, and 
moral faculties of man " (Compayre). It will be seen 
that the central idea in the above is that the securing 
of mental and physical development is the special object 
of education. Now development includes many things, 
viz., growth or mere increase in substance, size, or 
extent : increase of capacity, or power to contain and 
hold : increase of power, so that work is more easily 
done, more is done, and heavier tasks are performed : 
and increase of ability, or power to do more complex, 
more profound, and more advanced work. 

As we have before said, such a progress can only be 
secured by guiding, controlling, and forming the mind 
and body through their ordinary workings, i.e., through 
the knowledge-receiving activities of the mind, and the 
body-forming activities of the body. The mind acquires 
the power to act well (in an explicit and independent 
sense) by acting well (in an implicit and dependent 
sense) under disciplinary conditions ; and the body 
comes to acquire greater and more perfect forms of 
activity through habits of right action prompted and 
guided by right knowledge. 

To put the matter in another way, we can say that 



20 EDUCATION 

a being is properly and completely developed when all 
its parts and organs are full and perfect in all their 
details, so that the individual can perform all the 
actions proper and possible to it with ease, accuracy, 
and power. With regard to the mind this will mean 
a fully developed power to acquire and to use know- 
ledge. 

D efinition of Education. — We may sum up what we 
have said by giving as a definition of the science : Educa- 
tion is the science of human development, in so far as 
that development is purposely determined by the 
systematic imparting of knowledge. This represents 
the purely scientific view of education, and we will 
proceed to discuss it in some detail. 

It may seem that this definition is much wider than 
the previous remarks warrant, since in the former we 
speak of human development, but in the latter of 
mental and physical development. But, as we shall 
see later on, everything of importance which happens 
in the mind influences the whole man, and whatever of 
consequence takes place in any part of the man as a 
whole influences the mind. Thus mental and physical 
development includes intellectual, moral, assthetic, and 
to a large extent, manual, and other forms of special 
sense development. 

Therefore from this point of view of development, 
education is practically unlimited. But from another 
point of view it is very strictly and definitely limited, 
and must be if we are to have anything of the nature 
of a special science. Only that part of mental develop- 
ment which is brought about by systematically dis- 



NATURE AND SCOPE 2i 

ciplining the workings of the mind and body is re- 
gained as the result of education proper. There must 
be a definite aim and effort to secure development by 
subjecting the mental and physical powers to the best 
influences, conditions, and methods. In other words, 
the first and only thought, so far as pure education is 
concerned, is : by what kind of knowledge, and by 
what methods of imparting it, is the development, as 
such — without regard (for the time being) to other 
results — of the mind best secured. 

The consideration of what kind of knowledge is most 
useful, is both a right and a necessary one, and should 
always be kept in mind ; but it has in itself nothing to 
do with true education— as we have defined the term— 
and must always be subordinate to it. 

According to the above, instruction must be clearly 
marked off from education. No system of instruction 
is a means of education, in the above sense, unless it is 
directly, definitely, and solely — at least in so far as all 
other aims are subordinate — used to further mental 
development. All kinds of instruction may be, but 
none need be, agents of true education. Of course all 
true instruction must, to a greater or lesser degree, 
further development, but it is not therefore an agent in 
scientific education, in our sense of the term, any more 
than an action is a moral action because it cannot but 
have some of the same elements and effects as a moral 
action. An action is moral only when it is a part of, 
and related to, the whole of a moral code which is being 
purposely conformed with. Thus a man, in the pursuit 
of unworthy ends, may find it expedient to treat certain 



22 EDUCATION 

persons with leniency and generosity, but such acts are 
not morally worthy, because they are not prompted by 
moral considerations, or designed to bring about moral 
ends, in accord with an accepted moral code. So 
education proper includes only such instruction as is 
based upon and designed to cpiicken and extend the 
powers of mind, in harmony with the proper order of 
mental evolution. 

This endeavour to obtain the greatest, most complete, 
and most perfect development, as such, of the mind and 
body is most likely to be effective if made during the 
period of tbe general growth and development of the 
whole being, viz., up to about the twenty -fifth year. 
Daring this period all the powers of mind and body are 
peculiarly plastic and susceptible to all kinds of in- 
fluences. Tbe practical necessities of life, however, 
make it impossible that the whole of this time should 
be given up to education proper, and generally, it 
ceases at about the sixteenth year, and then a definite 
training for practical work is begun. Of course, at 
anytime during life we may submit ourselves to mental 
training which is wholly designed to produce a facility 
in, and ability for, some special kind of mental or 
physical activity, i.e., receive education. 

Throughout our future discussions we shall, unless 
something to the contrary is definitely indicated, regard 
ourselves as dealing with the period of youth which is 
ordinarily given up to education, viz., from about the fifth 
to the eighteenth year. This is an important limitation, 
because the general condition and powers of the in- 
dividual differ from those of a later period of life, 



NATURE AND SCOPE 23 

although they also in many ways resemble them. 
There is a very great difference as to the relative 
importance and predominance of certain characteristics 
at certain periods. A youth is more inquisitive and 
less restrained, more sensuous and less reflective, more 
energetic and less cautious, than a man ; but both have 
the same kinds of qualities, though they are differently 
balanced and developed. This makes no difference of 
quality, but considerable differences of proportion, in 
educational principles when applied to the one or the 
other. 

In the adult certain powers and qualities are de- 
veloped which are not possible to the youth, and powers 
and qualities which are common to both are, in the 
adult, developed into new and more complex forms. 
The adult has duties and responsibilities with regard to 
the life of the community which the .youth has not, and 
these bring new and powerful influences into action 
upon him. The duties and responsibilities of the 
parent, the citizen, 'the employer, the official, &c, have 
to be taken into account. 

So far, however, as the previous education has been 
real and effective, it is instruction rather than education 
which will be required for the adult. If right habits of 
thought have been formed the mind will be able so to 
deal with the new conditions as to secure further mental 
progress and development on the old lines. Indeed the 
individual should be capable of being his own educator 
in an explicit, thorough, and scientific sense. This 
will appear more fully as we go on. 

With respect to the time taken up by the stages 



24 EDUCATION 

through which the idea of education has passed before 
it reaches such a state of what we know as pure science, 
we may say that such stages have been passed through 
by many different peoples at different periods in the 
world's history. But, speaking in general terms, there 
have been deeper, broader, and more intellectual 
elements in each movement through the different 
grades as civilisation has advanced, so that the highest 
form of the idea of what true education really is, is 
to-day more comprehensive and complete than at any 
other time. History repeats itself, but with a difference 
which is usually more or less of an improvement. 
Though the Greeks had a very high and beautiful ideal 
in education, they had not anything like the scientific 
knowledge to help them which we have. We have all 
the best of their knowledge and thought to guide and 
assist us, so that whilst we need never fall short of 
their ideals — for we can adopt them — we can extend 
them in many ways. 

It is interesting to notice that the forms which we 
have called domestic and professional education still 
remain, though they have very different positions in 
the life of the individual. Domestic education is now 
almost wholly social training, whilst professional 
education is simply the technical training which is 
subsequent to education proper, and preparatory to the 
practical life of the adult. Similarly what has been 
called liberal education should now be regarded as the 
general instruction in knowledge for which education 
proper is a preparation, and which should be obtained at 
university and similar institutions, or by private study. 



NATURE AND SCOPE 2d 

The study of the history of education — a most 
delightful and helpful branch of our subject — shows 
us that the old ideas and methods have not wholly 
disappeared, but have been extended and improved, 
and put into more effective relation with each other, 
and with the practical problems of life. 

Having set forth in some detail what are the origin 
and scope of education, we can now the better discuss 
the things which it has to do with. For, after all, it is 
our knowledge of the nature and laws of the things, or 
phenomena (as scientists say), concerned, which makes 
the science of education. 

Now it is the development of a human being, as 
purposely influenced by the imparting of knowledge, 
with which we have to do. Heuce we must know the 
nature and laws of the human being, and the nature 
and principles of knowledge. As we shall see later on, 
to know the human being fully, is to know the nature 
and laws of knowledge, for the characteristic of the 
human being is his rationality or power of knowing. 
But we must also clearly understand what knowledge 
is — as something involving conditions and powers ex- 
ternal to the individual — how it can be best imparted, 
and how it acts upon the mind. Above all we must 
know what are the stages of mental, and physical, 
development, in what they consist, and at what periods 
in the life of the individual they should usually occur. 

It is not proposed to go into all these points in this 
book, but to consider the more purely mental side of 
the problem. To do this we must be well acquainted 
with the nature and laws of mind, and be able to see 



26 EDUCATION 

the relation between these and the special phenomena 
with which we are dealing, viz.. the phenomena connected 
with mental development — to which we confine our- 
selves for the present — -as brought about by a purposed 
and systematic disciplining of the powers of mind by 
special methods of imparting knowledge. 

The knowledge of mind, as such, i.e., as different and 
separate — so far as we are able to regai'd it as abstractly 
separate — from all other things, is in itself a science, viz., 
psychology. Therefore it is only pyschological prin- 
ciples in new relations which we shall now proceed to 
consider. So that education is what is often called a 
derived science. But all sciences are more less derived 
since they all depend upon one another, and, to a lai'ge 
extent, overlap and fade into each other. When, 
however, we have a class of things which have special 
characteristics and relations, there is always the oppor- 
tunity for a special science, even though most or all of 
the truths which constitute it are already known as 
pai'ts of other sciences. A new organism of knowledge 
is a new science. 

We may illustrate this by such instances as medicine, 
which is based upon the sciences of physiology, anatomy, 
biology, chemistry, physics, &c; agriculture, which is 
derived from chemistry, botany, geology, natural history, 
&c; and hygiene, which involves physiology, chemistry, 
physics, medicine, &c. In each of these sciences there 
is a special class of facts : in medicine all the phe- 
nomena connected with the nature, course, and cure 
of diseases ; in agriculture those involved in obtaining 
p induce from the soil ; and in hygiene those which 



NATURE AND SCOPE 27 

concern the perfecting and maintaining of health, and 
the pievention of disease. Also in each there is a 
special organisation of our knowledge about such facts. 
Such is the case with education, and with practically 
all sciences of modern origin. 

Sciences which are, in the more direct and special 
sense, derivative must necessarily follow the method 
of those from which they are mainly composed. 
Education is based upon what are called the moral 
sciences, viz., psychology, logic, and ethics, so far as 
the purely intellectual side of man is concerned, and 
upon physiology, hygiene, &c, with regard to the 
physical nature of man. It will therefore follow the 
method of these sciences, which is the inductive method. 

We may illustrate this method by the following 
example. In the earliest days of education all teaching 
would be directly connected with, the objects about 
which it was desirable for the pupil to know certain 
things. Although the amount learnt in this way was 
small in comparison with what is done at the present 
time, yet it was considerable when we remember the 
difference of general mental development between then 
and now. Also it would appear that such a method 
of teaching was very effective and easy, for ordinary 
individuals seem to have acquired very great skill and 
considerable ability in the common arts of the day, as 
is shown by their implements of war and peace. This 
appears to be true up to the time that written 
lansfuaD-e was invented and had become, through the 
aid of printing, a matter of common knowledge. 
When some of the finest thoughts and knowledge of 



28 EDUCATION 

the greatest thinkers of the ancient world had been 
expressed in printed books, and there had arisen a 
very keen interest in them, and a desire to know 
them, as being the best that the world of thought 
bad to give : then it was considered that to know of 
these through the books in which they were expressed, 
was to know all that was most valuable in knowledge. 

Education then, and therefore, resolved itself into a 
system of acquiring skill in all the details of the art 
of written language, so that the student should be 
able to get every possible point of meaning from the 
verbal forms. This kind of learning was made the 
more necessary, and difficult, in such countries as 
England, because it happened that all the matter 
which was thought to be of value was in the Greek 
and Latin languages. So great was the conviction of 
this necessity, that for many centuries practically no 
attention was given to the systematic teaching of the 
mother-tongue. Only the teaching of the classical 
languages was really attended to. After a time, how- 
ever, careful observers and thinkers began to recognise 
that the results of such teaching were very far from 
satisfactory for practical purposes, and, indeed, had 
very little permanent value to the average person. 
Montaigne says of the scholars of his time : " For the 
most part they neither understand others nor them- 
selves .... their memories are full enough, it is true, 
but the judgment totally devoid and empty." They 
also noticed that there was an amount of time and 
energy devoted to the task out of all proportion to the 
meagre results obtained, owing to the difficulty of 



NATURE AND SCOPE 29 

getting the learners to take a real interest in their 
work, and to the fact that few acquired sufficient 
knowledge to be able to read the classical languages 
with ease and pleasure. Moreover, there was very 
little occasion for using any language except the 
mother-tongue in the ordinary affairs of life. And not 
only was the matter thus learnt out of relation to the 
common life, but so far as it contained information 
about men and things, it related to other times, 
foreign people, and unknown habits and customs, and 
what it had to tell about familiar objects and acts was 
not always the truest or best that was then known 
about them. So that those who obtained their first 
knowledge of things through a more or less imperfect 
translation and understanding of the more or less 
ambiguous and necessarily imcomplete verbal record 
of more or less imperfect knowledge, were both very 
ill-informed and, often, very much misinformed. 

These points were carefully observed and compared 
with the results which followed the imparting of know- 
ledge through dealing directly with, and appealing to 
common experiences of, real objects. Lessons were 
conducted on the principle of teaching through objects 
themselves, and the results were found to be highly 
satisfactory, and far more sound and lasting than those 
obtained by teaching through written descriptions 
only. More and more evidence in favour of this 
method was given by further experience. 

Further observation, comparison, and classification 
of the detai's connected with the two methods led to 
the conclusion that the only real difference between 



30 EDUCATION 

them was as to whether the knowledge was gained 
directly through persoual experience and thought, or 
indirectly through the interpretation of the experi- 
ences and thought of others — with little, if any, help 
from personal experience — as recorded in written 
language ; for in many cases the information, the 
learners, the teachers, and the general conditions 
were for all practical purposes exactly similar. Hence 
this was taken to be the reason for the difference of 
the results, and it was laid down as a practical rule : 
that knowledge of the thing itself through actual 
experiences should come before attempting to get 
knowledge of it through written words. 

Later on, when the nature of mind and its depend- 
ence upon the senses for the material upon which it 
acts, were scientifically understood, it was seen that the 
above practical rule expressed a principle of mental 
development, viz., that the mind proceeds from know- 
ledge which comes through sense given material, to 
judgments about its fuller meaning, and then invents 
signs, i.e., a language, to express and record such 
knowledge. This gives the scientific basis for the 
principle: development in knowledge is from the 
concrete to the abstract and symbolic. From this 
great principle many conclusions as to details in 
methods of teaching have been drawn, e.g., as to the 
place of kindergarten in the education of very young 
children, the need of beginning the study of such 
subjects as arithmetic through concretes, and the 
general value and necessity of sense-training (manual 
instruction, &c.) in various forms. And all such con- 



NATURE AKD SCOPE 31 

elusions Lave been found to be sound and beneficial, 
by the excellent results produced by putting them 
into practice. In this way still more evidence in 
support of the original principle has been supplied. 

The above shows the progress which comes through 
the efforts of succeeding generations with regard to the 
practical consideration of the same subject, and also the 
very great help which the student of a subject can 
obtain from the study of the history of the development 
of the present knowledge of it. Where the products 
are sound, the processes are likely to be scientific ; 
and, where these are explicit the science itself stands 
revealed in more or less fulness, and the elements of 
scientific method are practically complete. 

As M. Compayre remarks : " It is profitable to study 
even the chimeras and the educational errors of our 
predecessors. In fact, these are so many marked ex- 
periments which contribute to the progress of our 
methods by warning us of the rocks which we should 
shun. In truth, for him who has an exact knowledge 
of the educators of past centuries, the work of construct- 
ing a system of education is more than half done." 
With regard to this, it may be said that unless beginners 
are prepared for the reading of the history of a science 
by at least an intelligible grasp of the outlines of what 
is accepted as the orthodox view, they are likely to be 
very much confused by the conflict of opinions and 
practices which a historical sketch inevitably reveals. 

Professor Foster Watson says : ''The history of edu- 
cation is a necessary part of a teacher's training, so that 
he can enter intelligibly into the continuity of national 



32 EDUCATION 

educational progress. And, secondly, that, as far as 
possible, disinterestedly, he may have material for judg- 
ment for comparing and judging the different present- 
day ends and co-ordinating them. Thirdly, that, enter- 
ing into his work with human ends, he may strengthen 
his manhood by imbibing something of the nobility of 
aim and endeavour which has characterised the efforts 
of educators in all ages and all climes." And Dr. 
Sully maintains that to obtain a sound method it is 
necessary to reflect upon the observed facts which the 
history of educational theory and practice involve. 

Function of Education.— To make clearer, if possible, 
our ideas of what true education really is, we may look at 
it, for a few moments, from the practical point of view. 
The progress of the human race depends very much 
upon each succeeding generation being able, as far as 
possible, to begin where the immediately preceding one 
leaves off. Now this could never happen if every 
individual can get all the experience and knowledge of 
the present generation only by going through every 
detail of every part of it for himself. 

It is true that he must so obtain some one or more 
examples of each definitely distinct class of experience 
and knowledge, or he can never realise the meaning of 
such. The development and history of the individual 
is in this respect, and to this extent, the same as that 
of the race, and that of the race as that of the indi- 
vidual. To give a simple illustration of the above : the 
uninformed dwellers in tropical regions cannot under- 
stand that it is sometimes possible for hundreds of 
persons to travel upon the surface of a lake in the 



NATURE AND SCOPE 33 

same way that they do upon the solid ground. If 
report be true, some travellers have lost their heads 
through trying to convince uncivilised rulers of tropical 
countries of such a, to us, simple truth. But when we 
have experience and knowledge of a frozen lake, it is 
not very difficult for us to understand the accounts of 
life in arctic regions, if they are put before us in a clear 
and connected form, and so as to show the relation of 
the facts of arctic life to those within our own lives. 

In this way one who has never been to a certain 
country can get to know, from the accounts given by 
many travellers, more about it than even a person who 
has spent many years there. Similarly, an individual 
may, in a few years, learn what has taken all the wisest 
men in all ages all their lives to discover about certain 
things. Compare, for example, how a young student 
of chemistry can in a short time become possessed of 
the latest knowledge of the nature of the atmosphere, 
such knowledge being the outcome of the work of the 
ablest thinkers since the very beginnings of the science. 
We inherit, possess, enjoy, and add to the knowledge 
of our forefathers, much in the same way as we add to 
their material wealth. 

Now, in educating an individual, the aim is so to 
develop his mental powers that he may, to as great an 
extent as is possible, be in intelligent sympathy with 
some of the highest forms of intellectual knowledge of 
the day. To whatever degree this can be accomplished, 
in so far the individual may be said to begin where the 
race has left off, and, if he has power and perseverance, 
he may advance the world of knowledge beyond the 

c 



34 EDUCATION 

stage at which lie found it. We might say that in this 
way the mental power of the individual is, through 
education, multiplied by the product of that of the race. 

Every one must know from personal experience how 
much the mental character is broadened and deepened 
through communication with other and greater minds, 
and by becoming acquainted with the habits of thought 
and modes of life of many men in many countries. So 
striking is the effect of such intercourse in developing a 
person's individuality that we often say " it has made 
a new man of him." To a greater or less degree this 
kind of developing influence can be used in educating. 
We can bring the mind into intelligent contact with 
some of the best thoughts of the greatest minds through 
the study of literature, or, in a more elementary way, 
by literary selections for ordinary school reading lessons. 
In the same way it is possible to become acquainted 
with the habits and customs of other men and other 
countries through descriptive geography. The whole 
world of men and things can, by sample, be brought to 
the knowledge of the youthful learner. 

This last is a great and significant truth, of the 
highest possible value in education. Its possibility 
makes the work of educating the young of the greatest 
moment to the individual and the nation. The present 
generation can thus fit the coming generation to enter 
into, and realise, its highest hopes and desires. 

The great world of fact and knowledge, which may be 
said really to belong only to the human race as a whole, 
can, in a sense, be put into the very little world of the 
youthful mental life. In seeking to develop the mind 



NATURE AND SCOPE 35 

through, geographical teaching, the surface and scenery 
of the whole world, all the most remarkable customs and 
habits of all nations, and inuumerable facts and phe- 
nomena of all kinds, are passed in review before the 
learner. The physical laboratory reveals to him, as in 
miniature, some of the great and mighty forces of 
nature which sustain and rule our universe. The 
biological laboratory puts before him examples of the 
laws and conditions of life and vital activity. History 
unrolls the life and actions of the human race before his 
eyes. And so by things and words, by samples, types, 
and series, by observation and reflection, this great 
universe of ours can be squeezed within the four walls 
of a small class-room. The importance of this truth 
for the educator can hardly be over-estimated. It is 
the very corner-stone of systematic development. 

Again, we all know from painful, experience that if 
we are left to ourselves we discover a very little truth, 
after making very many, and often serious, errors. 
Much loss of valuable time occurs during the process, 
and still more in undoing the bad effects of the wrong 
views of things which have been entertained, and of 
the material losses which may have resulted. It is very 
difficult, and often well-nigh impossible, to correct an 
error of judgment which is the result of the individual's 
own, but mistaken, mental efforts, and which he be- 
lieves he has found to be confirmed by experience (mis- 
interpreted). Compare, for example, the superstitious 
beliefs in signs and omens, which arise from mistaking 
coincidence for cause, and which still remain even 
amongst the educated, in the form of palmistry, &c. 



36 EDUCATION 

Errors must always more or less retard true develop- 
ment, for they generally necessitate going over the 
same ground again. Hence the educator teaches as 
much truth through truth as he can, carefully avoiding 
errors, so as to develop a proper mental method which 
shall, as far as possible, prevent unnecessary mistakes. 

Nature if left to itself — i.e., without the guiding and 
controlling power of reason — produces good and bad in 
wild profusion, and destroys more than it preserves. It 
has been well said that nature cares nothing for the 
individual, but everything for the race. Only the 
strongest, which are by no means necessarily the best, 
survive. It needs the care and cultivation which reason 
alone can secure to bring about the production of much 
of the best things. Hence the garden as against the 
wilderness, the orchard apple as against the wild crab- 
apple, the civilised man as against the savage (when 
reason looks after itself), &c. Nature, apart from man, 
orders the individual to his surroundings : man orders 
the surroundings to the individual, as much as possible. 
So arises the need of the educator as an agent in the 
development of the human being. 

Man cannot help being informed and developed by 
his experiences, but he can help his experiences to edu- 
cate him more easily, quickly, and completely than they 
would otherwise do it. This is the function of the edu- 
cator, and, therefore, we should find in the science of 
education an account of the nature and laws of all the 
different kinds of phenomena which are dealt with by 
the educator. 

Above all, there will, very properly, be an earnest 



NATURE AND SCOPE 37 

endeavour on the part of the educator to bring- the 
learner into practical relation with his surroundings. 
This is as necessary from the point of view of advan- 
tageous living, as it is inevitable from the point of view 
of living at all. The individual must so act as to get 
good, and not harm, from his surroundings, and it is, 
of course, well that he should so act as to get the 
greatest good from them. But this gives rise to the 
choice between the greatest immediate good, and the 
greatest total good in the long run — that which can be 
obtained during an average lifetime. This considera- 
tion is the practical basis of the claim that the earliest 
years of life should be given up to pure education — i.e., 
to preparatory development — rather than to the acquir- 
ing of certain particular kinds of power. It is urged 
that to give proper attention to the former makes the 
latter easier to secure, and more effective when obtained. 
Indeed, to get the former most completely we must em- 
ploy just the same general material and method as for 
the latter, leaving out only particular details of material 
and method. If this reasoning be sound, then the 
educator ought not to try and teach a boy to be a car- 
penter, shoemaker, accountant, journalist, &c, but to 
give him such a general physical and intellectual edu- 
cation as will best develop his powers for taking up 
any of these occupations with the greatest possible 
likelihood of success. 

Similarly with regard to conduct. However important 
and desirable it may be to form " a Christian character," 
" a perfection-seeking character," or " a good citizen,' 
these are matters for the theologian, the teacher of 



38 EDUCATION 

ethics, and the sociologist to deal with, and not for the 
educator, as such. The educator, as such, has no more 
to do with including such things in his science, than 
the astronomer, the geologist, and the zoologist, have to 
do with incorporating biblical teaching with their sub- 
jects. One can be taught to be honest, kind, just, &c, 
without being brought up as a Christian, Buddhist, or 
Mahonimedan, &c. It is not a question of excluding 
these matters, but of excluding particular views with 
regard to them. Religion cannot be excluded from 
teaching, but religions can: whether they should, is a 
matter to be decided by the public and private conscience. 
What particular end we shall set before the individual, 
or he shall propose to himself, when well-developed 
powers have been considered and secured, is a different 
matter from that of obtaining the greatest possible 
amount of the highest possible mental and bodily 
powers. It is not a question as to whether one or the 
other shall be excluded, but as to which shall predomi- 
nate during a certain period of life. This question 
really lies outside the limits of the science of education, 
but it serves to make more clear what is the exact scope 
of the science. All pure science must confine itself to 
knowledge, as knowledge, and has nothing to do, di- 
rectly, with what use is made of it. Such a distinction 
is very important in connection with the definition of 
education previously given. 

Ideas of Great TL'nkers— Some thoughts from the 
great thinkers and educationists of the past will show 
what has always been the highest conception of educa- 
tion, and will give matter for further andlater refleo- 



NATURE AND SCOPE 39 

tion. The following are selected from Dr. Barnard's 
" Aphorisms on Education " : 

" In education there is a union of watchfulness over 
the progress of training, and of a course of discipline 
for intellectual and bodily development." — Plato. 

"The mind should be drilled as much as the body." — 

Seneca. 

"The object of education is ... . inward develop- 
ment." — Seneca. 

"Education is to prepare the mind for instruction, 
as men prepare the soil before sowing seed in it." — 
Aristotle. 

" The general problem of education is to develop 
children as imperfect beings into perfect beings. The 
better part of man is the reason, which must therefore 
be the chief object of education." — Aristotle. 

" The chief problem of education, must be .... to 
develop harmoniously and naturally the various facul- 
ties of the soul, so that the pupil himself shall learn 
how to investigate further after truth." — Eeyclenreich. 

" The design of education is .... the development 
of what, though undeveloped, is capable of development, 
from dependence to independence." — Karl Schmidt. 

" Man is not clay, which the educator .... can 
model at his pleasure, but a plant, having its individual 
nature and form, and capable only of being cared for 
by him as by a gardener, raised up to its full growth, 
and brought to its greatest possible perfection." — 
Game. 

" As the body must be strengthened before bodily 
labour is commenced, so the mind must have grown 



40 EDUCATION 

before it may undertake the acquirement of art and of 
science." — Eduin Bauer. 

"The essence of education consists in this: that 
each department of human activity is developed in the 
individual ; none of them isolatedly, but each in a 
harmonious relation to the others." — Froebel. 

" Examination of the mental faculties and of their 
reference to instruction is absolutely necessary." — - 
Quintilian. 

"Mental training must gradually and progressively 
begin in the same way in which the mental faculties 
of the child themselves develop." — Quintilian. 

" The understanding is not a vessel that needs filling ; 
it is fuel that needs kindling. It is kindled to truth 
by the faculty of acquiring knowledge." — Plutarch. 

" Instruction should begin in early youth, and should 
proceed gradually, according to the development of the 
capacities." — Comenius. 

" Sound education stands before me symbolised by 
a tree planted near fertilising water. A little seed, 
which contains the design of the tree, its form and pro- 
portion, is placed in the soil. See how it germinates 
and expands into trunk, branches, leaves, flowers, and 
fruit ! The whole tree is an uninterrupted chain of 
organic parts, the plan of which existed in its seed 
and root. Man is similar to the tree. In the new-born 
child are hidden those faculties which are to unfold 
during life." — Pestalozzi. 

To the above it may be added that Locke, Rousseau, 
Rabelais, Kant, Fichte, Herbart, and Spencer, all insist 
that the educating processes must be based upon and 



NATURE AND SCOPE 41 

conform with mental development. This, of course, is 
possible only in so far as we know the nature of mind, and 
the different stages of growth and development through 
which it passes. That there are great differences 
between the mind of the infant, the youth, and the 
adult, whilst the minds of all infants, youths, and adults 
very largely resemble each other — indeed, that they 
exactly agree as to their general characteristics, though 
differing greatly as to details — is both commonly 
recognised and scientifically established. It is for this 
reason that a common system of educating has been 
found possible, and that a science of education has 
appeared and is being developed. 

Educational Ends. — Many different views have been 
held, and are still held, as to what should be the exact 
aim, or end, of education. From what has already 
been said it will be seen that very practical views 
were taken in ancient times. In modern days opinions 
such as the following are held : " The perfection of our 
nature " (J. S. Mill) : " Complete living " (Spencer) : 
"The happiness of the individual, and the well-being 
of the State" (" Cyclopasdia- of Education"): "A 
perfect citizen : " "A completely moral man : " &c 
But such considerations have to do with applied educa- 
tion, and not with education as a science. The only 
end of education, as a science, is educational knowledge ; 
just as the only end of astronomy, as a science, is astro- 
nomical knowledge. 



CHAPTER II 

MIND, AND THE GENERAL NATURE OF MENTAL LIFE 

In the physical sciences matter and motion are taken 
for granted, for no one who is sane would think of 
denying that such things exist, and indeed, there could 
be no such sciences unless they do exist, for it is our 
knowledge about matter and motion that constitutes 
them. We do not begin by asking " Is there matter 
and motion ? " but we find that it is impossible to be 
unaware of the phenomena (appearances) which we 
call by those names, and therefore we give them the 
names, and try to answer the questions : "What are 
they ? " or " What are their parts and qualities ? " 
" What do they do ? " and " How are they connected with 
each other, and with things in general ? " So with the 
mind and its activities ; we begin by being forced to 
recognise something which is different from all other 
things, and which we call " the mind," and then we go 
on to find out all we can about it. 

What Mind is. — To put this in quite general terms, 
we may say that all would agree that by "the mind" 
we mean our power of knowing, and the sum of our 
knowledge. Of course this does not express all that is 
meant, nor is it a strictly scientific definition. It is the 



MIND 43 

work of the science of psychology to show in detail the 
full meaning of the name. But we must begin with 
some such unquestionable statement, which no sane 
person can avoid realising the meaning of, or admitting 
the truth of, about the kind of things which we are 
going to study. We are unable, so to say, to start from 
zero, for, obviously, there is nothing to start with, and 
nothing to be got out of it. 

Man is; and man has the power to perform a certain 
special mental function which is called reasoning. Such 
is the nature of this truth, that to question it is to 
prove it ; for if one should say : " We do not know that 
we have reason " (the power of knowing), he really 
asserts: "I know (my power of knowing realises) that 
we do not know that we have reason " — an expression 
which first shows the use of reason and then denies its 
existence. 

Because of this special power of man we say that 
men know, think, reason, remember, feel, perceive, 
believe, doubt, decide, will, &c. &c. It is these facts 
of ordinary life, known to every one in the same way as 
we know that there are all kinds of animals, plants, 
&c, which the psychologist has to analyse and try to 
understand, so that he may be able to build up a 
science. Now this kind of knowledge about the mind 
is gained in a way exactly like that in which the 
scientific knowledge of geology, botany, &c.,is obtained, 
viz., by the inductive method, which has already been 
described. Every person is able to examine his mind, 
more or less thoroughly and effectively according to his 
training and skill in such work. For example, every 



44 EDUCATION 

one can go over again, in thought, most, if not all, of the 
important thoughts which he had the previous day, and 
can examine, analyse, and make further judgments 
about them, as : " That was a foolish judgment, because 
it did not take into account such-and-such a thought ; " 
'■'That judgment was a very clever one, for it managed 
to give exactly the right weight to such-and-such 
points in the thoughts with which it dealt ; " and 
so on. 

Again, we use the word mind as a verb in such sentences 
as, "I cannot mind it," meaning "I cannot get my 
mind to recall and think about something which it 
experienced before." Also, we use such expressions as 
" I know that my mind is agitated and excited," " I 
have a very intense feeling of pain, which is very inter- 
mittent but quite regular," &c. Some insane persons 
know that they are mad on certain points. All these 
things show that the mind is able to observe itself in 
much the same way as the eye is able to observe 
physical things. 

Psychology is in method similar to the natural sci- 
ences ; indeed, it is a natural science, for mind is as 
much an element of nature as, say, electricity or 
magnetism. It has some advantages over the other 
sciences, in that mind is always with us, and we can 
usually observe, analyse, and reflect upon it whenever 
we wish. 

Let us take for granted now what will be made 
clearer later on, that any one action of the mind 
expresses, more or less fully and completely, the whole 
mind, so that if we can thoroughly understand it, we 



MIND 45 

shall have a sound knowledge of the general nature of 
mind. In the same way as a single dog resembles all 
dogs of his kind, and this class is similar in all essential 
points to all the different kinds of dogs, so that we get 
to know all dogs through observing and getting to 
understand individuals of a class, and making this the 
basis for observing and studying other classes ; so, also, 
by analysing and understanding separate states or acts 
of mind we come to know the whole mind, and we can 
take this as a basis for discovering the main character- 
istics of all minds. 

Mind Elements. — We will, therefore, try to analyse 
separate states, or acts of mind. Suppose that a person 
is sitting in a room which is in semi-darkness, with 
eyes wide open, but not looking at or seeing anything 
in particular, with no special thought occupying the 
mind, and with no individual sensation occupying the 
attention. Suddenly a very powerful electric light is 
turned on from a bull's-eye lantern, and the rays come 
straight to the eyes. What will be the effect of such a 
condition of things upon the mind ? In the case of a 
very small child there would be what we call a violent 
shock to the feelings, probably causing pain, the head 
would most likely be hurriedly turned, the hands would 
be held up to cover the eyes, and the child would be 
aware of the great and striking change, as such, from 
semi-darkness to intense illumination which had taken 
place. An adult who should undergo the same kind of 
experience would have the same kind of mental effects, 
but after the first few seconds of shock and surprise, he 
would be aware of more than the mere fact of change 



46 EDUCATION 

from semi-darkness to brilliant light. He would 
doubtless recognise, in a vague and uncertain way, from 
which quarter the light came ; he would know not only 
that there was a change, but also have some idea of the 
general nature of the change ; and he would connect this 
change with the shock which he felt. Also, his action 
to escape the disturbing effects of the experience might 
be more deliberate. But both the infant and an adult 
would, at first, have very hazy notions of anything 
other than the overwhelming realisation of the fact that 
they were intensely affected by something. 

If we suppose the light to be a mild one, and not too 
abruptly turned on — all other conditions remaining the 
same — we should find that the infant would give no 
evidence of having had a shock, and would simply turn 
its eyes toward the source of the light, out of curiosity 
as we say ; still, however, the chief effect would be the 
realisation of the being affected by something. But it 
would also be vaguely aware of the fact that a change 
had taken place. With the adult, however, the matter 
would be very different. The change would probably 
be sufficient to obtain his attention, he would turn his 
head toward the source of light, if necessary, and 
definitely use his eyes and thoughts to discover all he 
cared to about the light. He would be likely to recog- 
nise if it was a light produced by electricity ; both 
from its general character as light, and from the 
mechanical nature of the lamp, &c, which was used in 
connection with it. Also, he would distinguish between 
the centre of illumination and the illuminated track. 
He would also trace, almost instantaneously, the limitifi 



MIND 47 

or shape of the illuminated track. And this being 
aware of what affected him, and how it appeared to 
him, would be the principal effects of the experience. 

We will take one other case for the purpose of illus- 
tration. We will suppose that the person who has 
the experience is one who has just before stolen some 
thing in the room, and has no idea that any one else is 
there. The chief effect it will have upon him is to 
cause him to take very definite, decided, and elaborate 
action. He will endeavour to hide himself completely 
from the light, if that be possible, and will do a lot of 
complex and, possibly, clever things to this end ; or he 
will at once begin to run away, and make all sorts of 
dodgings, &c, to escape being caught. Or he might 
immediately set his mind to work to invent some ex- 
cuses for being there, and to account for his having the 
stolen article. He will of course be aware, in a more 
or less definite way, of the kind of light there is, and he 
will realise that a change in his surroundings is affect- 
ing him — indeed, this will be intensified by his fears ; 
but the greatest effect will be that of causing him to go 
through a series of thoughts involving actions. 

In the above instances we see that there are always 
three elements or characteristics in a state of mind : 
the being more or less affected by our surroundiugs, 
especially if there is a violent or striking change in 
them ; the being aware, to a greater or lesser degree, of 
the nature of the effect which is produced in us by our 
being affected, and of what it is that so affects us, i.e., 
what are the different parts, &c, of it; and the being 
led to do something, either with the mind or body, or 



48 EDUCATION 

both, in consequence of being affected, and, in some 
cases, of being aware of the nature of what affects us. 
We may sum up these three points by saying that mind 
is always being acted upon by, and reacting on, other 
things, or acting on, and being reacted upon, by other 
things ; and that such states of action of mind can be 
analysed into three elements or characteristics — feeling, 
knowing, and willing — the technical names for the above 
described elements. 

The elements of feeling, knowing, and willing are 
always present in every act of mind, but one or other 
of them has, as a rule, greater force than the other two. 
Hence we are able the more easily and clearly to un- 
derstand how they differ from each other, and what 
conditions are favourable to each. The fact that they 
are, after all, only three phases, or characteristics, of one 
and the same thing, must never be lost sight of. 

General Nature of Mind. — Mind is, however, much 
more than a mere collection of feelings, knowings, and 
willinsrs, or of the results of its activities. We must 
begin with a mind ; thaL is to say, there must be the 
original germ mind, which has all the general powers 
that ever belong to it, though in an undeveloped state 
at first — and at last if conditions are never favourable 
for developing them. Again, mind is a living organism, 
for it is always in some condition of systematic, pur- 
poseful, and progressive activity. Therefore we must 
think of it as having a continuous existence, for directly 
it absolutely and entirely stops, it ceases to be, so far 
as we know of it scientifically. 

All normal minds, like other organisms, have their 



MIND 49 

progressive stages answering to infancy, youth, maturity, 
and decay. These stages, in ordinary cases, mean a 
great deal more than mere growth or increase in size. 
There is an inevitable increase in skill and power, or 
development. To what extent this development is 
carried will depend upon the native quality, so to call 
it, of the particular mind itself, and upon the kind of 
nourishment which it receives. The indispensable 
condition for any and all growth and development is 
exercise. If any power of mind be not exercised, it 
will inevitably become weak, and will waste away until 
finally it may be impossible to make it act at all. 
On the other hand, any power which is constantly 
exercised, so long as the exercise is not excessive in 
force or duration, will necessarily become stronger and 
more skilful in some direction or other. This law 
appears to be universally true of living organisms. 

But it is not a mere heap, or even a mechanically 
connected whole dovetailed together, so to say ; but 
each part of it, and every one of its actions, grows out 
of that which precedes it, and grows into that which 
follows it. If mind were not thus coherent, our lives 
would never mean much more to us than the experience 
of the passing moment. 

Further, it is not only coherent, but this coherence is 
both general and special ; for the whole of the life 
history of the mind is a complete and single whole. 
And besides this, within this complete whole, all those 
separate items in the whole which are similar to each 
other, form themselves into a subordinate coherent 
whole, thus both increasing their own value for tte 

D 



50 EDUCATION 

whole, and helping to bring out the significance of other 
such subordinate groups, and being helped in like 
manner by thern. Thus mind is systematised ; i.e., is 
a great system consisting of a number of inter-related 
systems. If this were not so, very little in the way of 
higher development would be possible, and our mental 
life would consist of little more than circles of repeated 
experiences. 

Finally, all parts, acts, elements, items, &c, of mind 
are so inter-related, inter- dependent, and inter- active, 
that they always act as a whole, and always make up a 
unit. So mind is unified — i.e., it is a unit which is a 
unity. This it is which enables us to always speak of 
our " self" as being always the same individual. It 
is necessary to get some idea of the nature of mind, 
as thus described, now, although it cannot be fully 
understood till the whole of the outlines of psychology 
has been intelligently studied, because it may at least 
serve as a warning against some misleading and very 
mischievous ideas on the subject. 

Again, we may say that all minds are very much like 
each other with regard to all their general features 
and facts, though very much unlike as to the details 
of these. Minds are both infinitely like and infinitely 
unlike each other ; but it is the likeness, and not the 
unlikeness, which is ordinarily predominant, and is 
always most important and significant for us. Were 
this not so, the world would be a chaos, so far as man 
is concerned in it. 

There are many different forms of mental activities 
besides those already mentioned — e.g., remembering, 



MIND 5 1 

imagining, attending, perceiving, &c; and it is neces- 
sary to have a general name for all these. The word 
which is commonly used as the name for any and 
every form of mental activity is consciousness. Any 
activity of the mind is, therefore, called " a form of 
consciousness," or "a state of consciousness." We say 
that a person is conscious of a thing when his mind 
so acts as to take account of it. 

Definitions of Psychology and Mind. — Mind may be 
studied from several points of view. It may be re- 
garded as a something which has the power of knowing, 
and one may try to discover what it is that makes 
up this something which has the power to know. 
Such a study of mind is a branch of metaphysics. Or 
minid may be thought of as that which shows us by its 
power of reasoning how all things are related to each 
other, and may be studied for the purpose of knowing 
how it thus relates, and gives a proper value, to all 
the parts and powers of the universe. This view of 
mind gives us philosophy. Again, we may look upon 
it as a living organism, or a kind of living machinery 
whose parts are so made as to work together in the 
best way to do a certain kind of work. From this 
point of view it will be studied for the purpose of 
finding out what causes it to work, what is the exact 
detail of its working, and what is the nature of the 
products of its work. This it is which constitutes the 
science of psychology. 

Hence we may define psychology as the science of 
states of consciousness. Notice that we do not say 
" the science of mind," for this is too wide, since it 



52 EDUCATION 

would include metaphysics, philosophy, logic, and 
ethics, all of which have to do with some side of the 
study of mind. Compare with this the fact that the 
study of the tody includes the sciences of physiology, 
anatomy, biology, medicine, &c. 

As the metaphysician, philosopher, and psychologist, 
each takes a different standpoint in the study of mind, 
so each has a different idea — with regard to his par- 
ticular science only — of what mind is. For the psy- 
chologist, mind is the permanent unity of conscious- 
ness. This expression will doubtless have some definite 
meaning after what has already been said, but it can 
only be fully and clearly grasped after much fuller and 
deeper study. 

How to study Mind— Some further details about the 
three great elements, or characteristics, of mind are 
necessary before we proceed to consider that which 
most concerns education, as such, viz., the development 
of the mental life. These will be described as briefly 
as possible, and the student will be left to do what we 
may call the laboratory work for himself. He must 
deliberately and carefully set himself to observe and 
examine his own states of consciousness ; he must, as 
far as is possible, observe the signs, in the acts and 
general behaviour of other human beings, which seem 
to be evidence of their having similar mental ex- 
periences to his own ; he must ask for information from 
other persons as to their experiences ; and he should 
endeavour to test his conclusions by simple experi- 
ments. For example, after trying to study a subject, 
when tired, and having observed the mental effects, he 



MIND 53 

should see how far his analysis agrees with subsequent 
analyses of his experiences, under, as nearly as possible, 
similar conditions. 

This looking into one's own mind is called intro- 
spection. If one thinks about it a moment, it will be 
recognised that to try to observe a state of mind while 
it is actually going on, introduces a new element into 
the state of consciousness, and more or less changes 
the original state. A person cannot try to observe a 
state of anger, without at the same time becoming less 
angry and more reasonable, and so, very much altering 
that which he desires to look into. It is therefore 
necessary always to allow for this, and to put ourselves 
through such experiences again, if we can, carefully 
avoiding any effort to observe them at the time, but 
trying to recall them, as soon after as we find most 
effective for the purpose of analysing and studying 
them. 

Sensations and Presentations.— Before noticing the 
details of feeling, knowing, and willing, it is desirable 
to say something about the conditions which may be 
said directly to influence the mind, and which cause 
the mind to re-act upon such influence. Everything in 
the physical world is, to a greater or lesser degree, in a 
state of activity in one form or another. These forms 
of activity we call molecular (i.e., of the smallest con- 
ceivable particles of matter), molar (i.e., of ordinary 
large or small bodies), electrical, chemical, magnetic, 
&c, motion or force. Under favourable conditions, 
the activities thus exercised will affect some one or 
more of our senses, through the special machinery 



54 EDUCATION 

which they have for receiving and discriminating them, 
e.g., a coloured object acts upon the eye by means of 
waves of light, an odorous object acts upon the sense 
of smell through minute particles which chemically 
stimulate the delicate membrane in the nose. Our 
sense organs being thus put into a special condition 
of activity by these external stimuli, they therefore 
affect the nervous system, and cause it to act in a 
particular way. This nervous, or neural, activity, is 
generally passed on to the brain or spinal cord. 
Answering to and interpreting for the mind these 
activities of the body, there is an act of consciousness. 
Such is the most usual way in which a state of con- 
sciousness is brought about. 

We cannot say that the consciousness is caused by 
the bodily activities in the same way that the bodily 
activities cause each other ; neither can we say — in 
the sense of being able to demonstrate the fact — that 
consciousness is added to the other activities from some 
other source. Therefore we must regard them as being 
equally fundamental though, inseparable. Hence we 
speak of them as being correlated, or of having a kind of 
parallel dependence upon each other, and not a sequent 
dependence (one thing following or coming from an- 
other as a result of the former having occurred). 

If we regard the bodily and the external activities as 
making up a group by themselves, apart from the act of 
consciousness, then we speak of such as an impression. 
If we think of the impression and the accompanying act 
of consciousness as forming one thing, then we call such 
a sensation. A sensation, therefore, is the condition of 



MIND 55 

mind which accompanies a definite activity of either of 
the senses. Sensations maybe looked upon as the food 
of the mind by which it keeps itself alive — i.e., thinking 
— and out of which it builds up its knowledge, and 
finally produces its highest developments. It has been 
well said that nothing is in the mind which was not 
first in the senses — or, we may say, in sensations. 

But when once thoughts have begun to accumulate 
in the mind, through its re-action upon the influences 
of impressions, then these thoughts themselves are re- 
acted upon, as individuals, by the mind as a whole, 
and thus minister to mental growth and development. 
Any sensation, or thought, &c, that is in this way 
taken account of by the mind is called a presentation. 
In other words, a presentation is anything which can 
enter into and become a part of the mental life. 

Feeling". — Feeling is an element, i.e., it is such that we 
can get nothing from it which is other than itself. No 
one can ever know what feeling is unless he has 
feelings, any more than a man blind from his birth can 
know what colour is. It is, therefore, impossible to say 
exactly what it is. We can really only say that there 
is that which is different from all other things that we 
know, and which we have named feeling, and then try 
to find some general expression which shall serve to 
mark it off as clearly as possible from other elements. 
For this purpose we may say that feeling is the ex- 
pression by mind, for mind, of the value of the fact 
that we live and move and have our being : that virtue 
has gone out of or come into mind : of the realising of 
general or special (local) well-being or ill-being, comfort 



56 EDUCATION 

or discomfort, pleasure or pain : which must, to a greater 
or lesser degree, accompany every act of consciousness. 
It is, so to say, the general tone of a state of conscious- 
ness which results from the nature of that which acts 
upon the mind, and from the nature of the reaction 
which mind itself makes. Feeling, therefore, is always 
connected with a presentation, and will largely de- 
pend upon, and vary with, the general character of the 
presentation. 

For this reason we speak of various kinds of feelings, 
which are connected with different classes of presenta- 
tions. Those feelings which accompany sense pre- 
sentations are termed sensuous feelings. A change to 
pleasant coolness from too hot surroundings gives the 
feeling of being refreshed or invigorated ; whilst the 
change to pleasant warmth from too cold surroundings 
gives the feeling of being comfortable or being shel- 
tered. Having too little light for any length of time, 
when in a wakeful condition, gives the feeling of being 
depressed or being mournful. Experiences make us 
feel gay, sad, heavy, excited, &c. Sometimes we have 
feelings of repose, unrest, exhaustion, weariness, 
strength, weakness, &c. The general body sensations 
make us feel ill, well, lively, sleepy, &c. 

Then there are the feelings which accompany the 
activities of the mind itself, and which are called in- 
tellectual feelings. If we judge that things are going 
smoothly and satisfactorily we feel content, happy, 
satisfied, hopeful, &c. : if we judge that matters are 
progressing badly, we feel discontented, troubled, dis- 
satisfied, &c. "When our thoughts flow on easily and 



MIND 57 

h arm on ion sly, we Lave feelings of mental ease, &c. 
The frequent repetition of an experience calling for a 
similar judgment each time gives the feeling of 
familiarity; and, if it is too often repeated, it may 
cause the feeling of being bored. Experiences which 
seem to demand judgments that are at first sight 
contradictory, unusual, or strange, give the feelings of 
surprise, contrast, conflict, &c. Presentations which do 
not seem worth the trouble of judging about at all 
are accompanied by feelings of triviality, contempt, 
insipidity, &c. If after some difficulty we are able to 
solve a mental problem, we get such feelings as those 
of reconciliation, harmony, success, power, &c. 

Besides the above there are the feelings which go 
with the appreciation of the forms of things, i.e., with 
regard to their beauty, or otherwise. These are known 
as the sesthetic feelings. Also, there are those which 
belong to the appreciation of the value of conduct, i.e., 
of acts as related to an ideal standard. These are 
called moral feelings. The former include such feel- 
ings as those of harmony or balance of outline and 
parts, rhythm, discord, &c. ; and the latter embrace 
such as the right, the wrong, the good, the bad, the 
pure, &c. 

Underlying and accompanying all these different 
kinds of feelings, there is always much or little of 
the element of pleasure or pain. The former seems to 
accompany all those states of consciousness in which 
the stimulus is not too violent or too feeble, unduly 
prolonged or too abrupt ; and where the presentation 
contains nothing that is in itself harmful to mind, and. 



58 EDUCATION 

where the mind itself is in a sound condition. The 
latter is present when the stimulus is either too violent 
or too feeble, too prolonged or too abrupt ; when the 
presentation contains something which is in itself 
harmful to mind ; or when the mind itself is in an 
unsound state. 

It is found that by repeating pleasurable or painful 
sensations of small intensity, at suitable regular inter- 
vals, there is an accumulation of the pleasurable or 
painful effects of the later stimulations. Compare, for 
example, the fact that prisoners have been driven mad 
by the agony produced by the constant falling of drops 
of water upon their heads. 

Intensely pleasurable or painful feelings appear to 
affect the whole brain, so that it becomes generally 
active, and all parts of the body are stimulated and 
affected by the state of feeling. Thus a person who has 
received some very gratifying news may be so intensely 
glad that nothing short of jumping, singing, shouting, 
laughing, and dancing, seems able to express his joy. 

Emotion. — It often happens that the element of 
feeling in a state of consciousness is so inteuse that 
it may be said practically to monopolise the mental con- 
dition at the moment. If, for example, a person has 
a keen sense of justice, and he is treated with very 
great injustice, it generally results in his becoming 
very angry ; and so great is the mental conflict, so acute 
the feeling of disgust, pain, outrage, &c, that he 
realises little else at the moment but the intensity of 
his feelings. This is usually accompanied by an over- 
whelming tendencv to do something to remedy or 



MIND 59 

revenge the wrong. But so absorbing are these two 
factors that there is no power to exercise the judgment 
properly. The result is a kind of blind energy of 
action, which is often most disastrous. It is for such 
reasons that we speak of anger as a short madness. 

A good evidence of the effect of such an excess of 
feeling upon the judgment is the fact that an angry 
person will often declare that he was never cooler in his 
life. So, too, love, hatred, &c, so prejudice the judgment, 
that all kinds of pervertings, ignorings, exaggeratings, 
and so on, take place in our judgments, without the 
least desire or intention that they should, indeed often 
in spite of an effort to prevent them. 

Emotion may be defined as an excess of feeling. In 
every emotion there is a disturbance of the mental 
balance through an excess of feeling, so that feeling 
itself and willing are violent and absorbing, whilst 
knowing (in the form of accurate judging) is always 
prejudiced and sometimes almost entirely destroyed. 
Any of the previously mentioned feelings may become 
emotional in their character. Gaiety may be inten- 
sified till it becomes a frenzy of delight, sadness may 
turn to melancholy, illness to agony, hopefulness to 
yearning, trouble to despair, surprise to wonder, 
strangeness to terror, contempt to loathing, success to 
conceit, beauty to voluptuousness, rhythm to monotony, 
purity to prudery, &c. 

Passion. — In some cases individuals possess or acquire 
a habitual inclination for, and susceptibility to, certain 
kinds of emotion. Some persons soon become absorbed 
in the emotions which music arouses, others are carried 



60 EDUCATION 

away by the beauties of scenery, some become exhila- 
rated by physical activity, &c. When there is such 
an invariable disposition to an emotional condition, we 
say that a person has a passion for such-and-such 
things. Hence we may define passion as a permanent 
tendency to a particular kind of emotional outbursts. 
Thus, a man who constantly gets angry is said to have 
a passionate nature. 

Feeling as Egoistic and Altruistic. — A very important 
feature in the development of feeling — viz., the change 
of its general character with regard to the object to 
which it directs the general activity of the individual — 
must be carefully considered. At the beginning of 
life, when there is only the power to regulate action to 
a very limited extent, every feeling seems to demand 
merely its own satisfaction ; for if it is painful, there is 
a struggle to get relief, and if it is pleasant, there is 
an endeavour to prolong it. The healthy little child 
screams and struggles most lustily when what it likes 
is taken away from it, or when what it dislikes is given 
to it, or when what it desires is not given to it. 

It is often said that a very young child is most 
utterly and absolutely selfish. This is true, if we do 
not understand the word selfish to mean that the child 
chooses its own good in preference to the good of another. 
It is unable to make such a choice, for it has neither the 
knowledge nor the judgment required. But it most 
decidedly and invariably seeks what seems to it desirable. 
And this is, at this period, most proper and inevitable, 
for its feelings practically make up all that it knows, all 
that can make it act, and therefore all that it has anything 



MIND 61 

to do with, in so far as its own consciousness is concerned. 
Its life consists chiefly of feelings, often very intense 
(emotions), and it is necessary that these should be 
properly attended to. The whole of the individual's 
life is, so to say, self-centred. There is no inference to 
anything outside hi? own conscious experiences, as 
indeed there cannot be, for nothing of the outside is so 
known as to lead to such a reference. 

Feeling which thus appears only to direct the 
general activity of the individual to the securing of his 
own advantage, so as to provide in the most direct 
way for self-preservation, is said to be egoistic. There 
is always more or less of this characteristic in every 
state of feeling— since, after all, feeling is of the self, 
through the self, and for the self — but it may be 
mainly passive or active. In its active form it may be 
either spontaneous, as in early life, or selective, as in 
later life. 

When knowledge of the external world begins to be 
definite and clear, and when through the feeling of 
relation the individual recognises that he is but a part 
of the great world around him, from which he receives 
so much and to which he gives much, then his feelings 
take a broader reference, and embrace more than the 
self-centred interests of his own life. For example, 
a child learns that its feelings of pleasure are 
largely due to certain actions of its mother or nurse. 
Then there is no longer the mere realising of a 
pleasure and the effort to prolong it, but there is also, 
in the total feeling, the germ of the element of what 
adults call the feeling of gratitude towards the mother 



62 EDUCATION 

or nurse. Such a disposition to include other persons 
and things, as parts of the conditions which make up, 
or bring about, one of the feelings, extends to more and 
more objects as time goes on. 

Not only do we thus include them as parts of the 
conditions of our feelings, but there is also in our 
feelings an element which makes for pleasure, or pain, 
according as we think that others are well affected, or 
ill affected, towards us. Thus if a child is scolded 
whilst being given some toy which it has been crying 
for, the influence of the former action may over-ride 
that of the latter, so that the little one is still unhappy 
though it has obtained what it desired. 

Because of this realising of our relation to and de- 
pendence on others, it will often be the case that a 
child will cry if it hears another cry, or sees signs of 
pain and distress. This is doubtless because the grief 
of another is disturbing to itself. The consequence of 
such a state may be either that the child tries to get 
away from the sound and sight of the distressed one, 
or it may try to soothe or succour him. In either case 
there is probably as much, if not more, anxiety to get 
relief for oneself as for the other. It is most likely 
that there is the wish to relieve another so as to relieve 
oneself from being disturbed by him. 

The taking more or less account, in this way, of the 
feelings of another, in so far as they tend to help or 
hinder our own feelings, is w T hat is ordinarily called 
sympathy, i.e., the feeling with another. Because it 
includes feeling for oneself as well as for another, it is 
classified as ego-al ruistic feeling. There is, so to say, 



MIND 63 

a transferring of the consideration of oneself to the 
thought of what some other must be feeling, through 
the same or similar conditions, because the condition of 
such an one may, or does, affect us. The different 
feelings which come under this class are commonly 
known as the sentiments. 

Love, hatred, jealousy, respect, reverence, admiration, 
shame, dishonour, &c, are all feelings which involve 
the taking account of others and their feelings, in 
relation with our own, and are, therefore, sentiments. 
Shame, for instance, generally arises from our realising 
what others feel towards us because of what we have 
done, so that the thought of their feelings towards us 
causes us to experience this special kind of feeling. 

Now this reference to the feelings of others may go 
so far as almost to entirely shut out any reference to 
our own feeling, other than to the feeling of wanting 
to help another. It sometimes happens that a person 
who is himself unable to swim is so moved by the 
appeals for help of one who is drowning, that he will 
jump into the water, with the idea of rendering assist- 
ance. In such an action there is rather an absorbing 
of oneself in the feelings of another, than the realising 
of what the experience means for oneself. A feel- 
ing, which results in taking no account of oneself in 
the realising of the feelings of another, is termed 
altruistic feeling. It is shown in cases of pure dis- 
interestedness, self-sacrifice, self-devotion, heroism, 
martyrdom, &c. 

Knowing. — Knowing is, like feeling, an original and 
fundamental power of mind. It is also an element. 



64 EDUCATION 

It is the power by which mind takes account of what 
happens to it, in the sense that it gives to each of the 
experiences, their parts and powers, a meaning and 
value for mind itself, so that it becomes acquainted with 
its own nature and the nature of the physical world : is 
aware of the repetition of experiences like to those it has 
had before: is able rightly to appreciate the relation 
of the different details of experiences, and that which 
gives rise to them : and can guide the activities of the 
body, and of itself, in relation to their surroundings 
and well-being. It is the mental realisation of likeness 
and difference — assimilation and discrimination*. 

Just as vitality is both the result and the being of a 
living body, so knowing is both the special result and 
nature of mind. Knowing expresses the highest value 
of mind's activity. It is the purely mental part in- 
volved in an experience, and it remains for mind after 
the experience as such has passed. 

Attention. — It has already been pointed out that 
mind reacts, according to its own proper uature, upon 
every influence which acts upon it. It may also be 
looked upon as taking action on its own behalf, either 
in answer to some stimulus or by way of exercising 
its powers on its surroundings. These reactions and 
actions may be regarded as the efforts made by mind 
itself to take iu, and appreciate, whatever it can. 
Like every other organism, it is always taking in and 
giving out different kinds of material. This definite 
and purposeful working of mind is called attention. 
That is, attention is the activity of mind as engaged 
in putting or keeping itself in inter-acfcivity with 



MIND 65 

some influence, so as to take it in and take account 
of it. It is the minding of experiences. Thus it is 
that, since mind is always more or less active, know- 
ing is always being increased both in extent and 
power. From this point of view knowing is the 
taking in, realising, estimating, retaining, repro- 
ducing (in the sense of knowing again), relating, and 
reasoning about, all that happens to the mind. 

Nothing has any permanently valuable effect upon 
• mind which is not attended to. Indeed, in the widest 
meaning of attention, nothing can enter into the mind 
at all unless it is attended to. Attention in the mind 
may be compared with digestion in the body. As in 
digestion appropriate material is received into the 
body, submitted to bodily activities, transformed into 
that which can become a part of the body, and then 
assimilated, i.e., made an actual part of the body ; so 
attention is the receiving, transforming, and assimilat- 
ing activity of mind. In the case of attention, how- 
ever, this kind of activity is not limited to one definite 
circle of work and result, but the mind is able to 
attend to the first results and get further and higher 
products from them, and to carry on this process. 

When attention is chiefly given up to the more 
passive reception of presentations, and the activity is 
mainly called forth by the force of the external 
stimulus, it is said to be involuntary ; and when it is 
actively engaged in seeking for and securing presenta- 
tions, and its activity is initiated by the mind itself, 
it is termed voluntary. There is, however, always a 
passive and an active element in attention, and it 

E 



66 EDUCATION 

depends upon which element is predominant as to 
whether we speak of the attention as involuntary or 
voluntary. 

P re-adjustment of Attention. — Attention is found to 
be far more rapid in its workings, and far more full, 
precise, detailed, and accurate, when the mind has 
some idea of what is the kind of experience which it 
will soon be subjected to. The mind, so to say, gets 
itself ready for the experience, and the details of the 
presentations are very freely and fully received, and. 
very readily and completely appreciated. 

For example, if a person is in a room in which 
another person, whom he has met only once before 
and not noticed very particularly, is present, a whole 
evening might pass without the former recognising 
the latter, even though he sees him several times. 
But if he is reminded of the previous meeting, and 
told that the new acquaintance is present, recognition 
is likely to take place. Should he especially wish to 
see him again, or should he be told that his new 
friend is standing in a particular group of persons, 
the recognition would probably be immediate. 

Similarly, if, without any suggestion of what is 
coming, one is asked to try to identify, say, some- 
thing that is momentarily flashed upon a lantern 
screen, frequent failure will take place. But if one 
is told that a letter of the alphabet, or some one or 
more of the number figures from i to 30 will appear, 
then success is more likely. And if there be still 
further limitation to, say, one or other of the first 
twelve letters of the alphabet, then it will probably 



MIND 67 

be more or less easy to tell exactly what is shown each 
time. 

This getting ready of mind to receive a certain kind 
of experience is termed the pre-adjustment of atten- 
tion. Not only does the mind adapt itself in the best 
way for receiving what is to come, but it confines its 
power of attending to the particular matter in hand. 
There is an absence of any distraction, a concentration 
of power, and the greatest possible readiness to receive 
and appreciate. The result of this is that the time 
taken to recognise the nature of a presentation is 
sometimes reduced to as little as one-seventh of what 
would be taken without any pre-adjustment of atten- 
tion. In this way, therefore, knowing is extended and 
made more thorough and complete. 

Memory. — That the fact of having experiences leads 
to an increase of knowing is due to the elements of 
continuity and coherence in mental life. Mind has 
the native power of being able to bind together, retain, 
and re-use the results of acts of consciousness. This 
power to retain, which is called memory, is not a 
special or separate power, but is a general basis, like 
attention, of mind and mental life, as such. Without 
memory and attention, mind, as known to us, could 
not exist. They are of the very essence of mind as a 
distinct entity, i.e., that which is known to us as a 
something different from all other somethings, and 
having its own proper constituents, qualities, and 
functions. 

Memory, like all the mental powers, has two aspects, 
an active and a passive. We cannot help remembering, 



68 EDUCATION 

or holding in mind, things that happen to us. There 
are some events which, as we say, we shall remember 
to the day of our death. By this we mean that they 
will constantly recur to us, without onr making any 
effort to bring this about, or even in spite of our trying 
to prevent it, and we shall think about them, and 
realise over and over again much of the pleasure or 
pain that they gave us when they actually happened. 
This is more than the mere holding in mind, which is 
the more purely passive side of the matter, and is called 
reproductive memory, or simple remembering. 

Since, however, things are held in the mind, we can 
use our mental energy for the purpose of bringing them 
into clear consciousness at any particular time. We 
sometimes are asked, or set ourselves, to try and recall 
what took place at a certain time and place, and we 
are usually able to do this with considerable fulness 
and accuracy. This is the more active side of memory, 
and is termed recollection. 

Whatever is thus again brought into clear conscious- 
ness, either through an involuntary or voluntary activity 
of memory, is known as a re-presentation. To this 
power of re-presentation is due, primarily, all the 
higher developments of reason, as we shall see in our 
later considerations. 

It is probable that anything which has once con- 
sciously entered the mind never absolutely and entirely 
leaves it, although it may not appear again unless some 
very violent mental disturbance takes place, and we 
may quite lose the power of recalling it when we wish. 
This losing of the power to recall an experience is 



MIND 69 

known as obliviscence. A good example of this is seen 
in the fact that Dr. Livingstone was unable to ask for 
water by its English name, after a long period of 
speaking nothing but African languages. The more 
vivid, forcible, interesting, and frequent an experience 
is, the less likely is the mental effect to sink into such 
a state of forgetfulness. Repetition in due amount and 
at proper intervals is probably the most important 
agent in securing a full, accurate, and ready memory. 

The powers of memory are at their greatest from 
about the tenth to the twentieth years, and during this 
time a really wonderful amount of work is done. 
There is a remarkably rapid growth from birth to 
about the fourteenth year, after which there is a very 
gradual but steady decline until the thirty-fifth year, 
when there sets in a much quicker falling-off. 

Sub-consciousness. — In connection ' with memory we 
have to deal with a rather remarkable fact in the 
mental life. Probably most of the stimuli which affect 
our bodies, through the senses, escape being attended 
to, and therefore do not enter into clear consciousness 
at the time ; i.e., we are not definitely aware of them at 
the moment when they are acting upon us. One or 
two every-day experiences will serve to illustrate this. 
We say that a cat can see in the dark, by which we 
mean that a cat's eyes are so much more susceptible to 
light than ours, that they can see things in a state of 
light in which we are unable to see them. But the 
same light stimuli which are acting upon the cat's eyes 
are affecting our own, although we cannot ordinarily 
appreciate them. Some men, however, by long and 



70 EDUCATION 

careful practice have become able to see down wells or 
up into the skies, and can tell what is there, when one 
who has not so trained himself is unable to do so. So 
a deaf person learns to know, through the effect on his 
own face and through putting his fingers on the throat 
of a speaker, certain spoken sounds. Again when the 
attention is absorbed, we are, at the time, unaware of 
influences which would, under ordinary conditions, 
impress us very forcibly, as when a person who is 
reading a thrilling narrative is entirely unaware that 
some one is speaking to him in loud and earnest tones. 

Though some stimuli are thus unattended to, and do 
not enter into clear consciousness at the moment, yet 
some of them do influence the mind, and the effects of 
such influence may afterwards appear in the mind as a 
re-presentation. An experience like the following may 
occur : a person is anxious to attend a certain concert, 
but does not know the exact day. Hurrying along the 
street one day, and engaged in earnestly thinking about 
some subject of study, he may pass a shop window in 
which there is a notice about the concert. At the time 
of passing the window he is quite unaware of the 
notice. But in about a minute afterwards he stops 
thinking of the subjects which occupied his thoughts, 
and then there leaps into his mind the thought: 
" Why, I saw a notice about the concert in a window 
which I have just passed ! " 

A striking example of sub-conscious mental activity 
was, not long ago, reported in the newspapers. An 
uneducated charwoman, a patient in one of the public 
hospitals, was found to be repeating one of the psalms 



MIND 7 1 

in the original Hebrew, when she was delirious. Inquiry 
revealed the fact that she had been employed to look after 
the room of a Jewish Rabbi, and had constantly heard him 
repeating this psalm. She could hardly have attended 
to it in any real sense, yet it had become lodged in her 
memory in a very complete and consecutive way. 

Influences and their mental results (until they appear 
in clear consciousness as re-presentations) of whicb we 
are unaware at the time when they actually occur, make 
up what is known as sub-consciousness. Mental phe- 
nomena of this kind are, we may say, on the margin of 
consciousness, for they are neither quite in, nor quite 
out of, the ordinary consciousness. We may regard 
every activity in the universe which surrounds us as 
exerting a sub-conscious influence upon us, which 
may force itself into consciousness in the manner just 
pointed out, or may enter into clear consciousness 
through being attended to in the ordinary ways. 

Association. — Not only is this growth, or mere increase 
in quantity, provided for by the original nature of mind 
but the development of knowing into its higher forms 
is also provided for by the native capacity of mind. 
Memory is not only a power, but also a system. Mental 
effects are retained and reproduced in the mind, but 
more than this, they are combined in definite and helpful 
ways. Thus all those elements in our varying experi- 
ences which resemble each other in their value and 
meaning for mind, are grouped together by mind itself, 
in such a way that each addition serves to bring out 
more clearly and fully the value and meaning of all 
that has gone before, whilst its own significance is more 



72 EDUCATION 

completely realised because of what already exists in 
the mind of a like nature. 

Every time a child sees and attends to the presenta- 
tion of, say, a horse, its previous impressions as to what 
a horse is like are made more vivid and clear ; and the 
next time it has a similar experience it will receive 
more from it because of what has gone before. It is in 
this sense that we speak of seeing more in a picture 
every time we look at it, of realising new beauties in a 
sonata on each occasion of hearing it re-played, and of 
finding more meaning in a book at every fresh reading 
of it. Such a collecting of mental results into groups 
we call association, and the above form of it is known 
as association by similarity. 

But not only are the results of experiences associated, 
because of their similarity, by an original impulse due 
to the nature of mind ; they are also associated because 
of their occurring in the same act, or immediately 
following acts, of consciousness, or because they are 
recalled to mind and thought about at the same time, 
or immediately following each other. 

For example, if one is always aroused in the morning 
by a rapping on the door, then the idea of getting up 
will usually be accompanied with the idea of hearing 
a rapping on a door. Indeed, this may go so far that 
one may get to think that he ought not to get up, 
and fail to do so, until a rap is heard. Similarly, 
with the successive actions of dressing ; each of these 
calls up the next so clearly and inevitably, as a rule, 
that a person does not stop to think what is next, 
but, as we say, remembers without thinking. 



MIND 73 

So also with respect to thoughts which occur to- 
gether or successively, the recurrence of one is likely 
to recall the other. The whole of. the points of an 
argument that has been studied, or of a speech that 
has been heard, can often be recollected if we are 
able to recall one or two of the most important 
and central ideas. This kind of association is termed 
association by contiguity. 

Attention and Association. — A little reflection will 
show that association is very largely dependent upon 
attention, with regard to there being such-and-such 
associations at all. Not all like or following experi- 
ences are grouped together, but generally only those 
which have some special force or interest both of 
which will cause, or be caused by, special attention. 
The amount of attention which the mind gives will 
depend upon : its own freshness, • fulness (previous 
knowledge, which enables it to attend effectively) and 
vigour at the moment : the force, clearness, and interest 
of the experience : and the general bodily freshness, 
vigour, and accuracy of response — if there be sensation 
involved. 

Attention and association are the two most essential 
features of knowing, as such, for attention marks off 
the points of likeness and difference in every pre- 
sentation, and association so groups and re-groups such 
points that the highest possible mental value is 
obtained from them. This grouping is not only a 
classification, but, by the aid of thought — the highest 
form of attention — it is, in its highest form, a con- 
structive arrangement, for it gives new products and 



74 EDUCATION 

powers. We may compare the whole process to the 
following : a man (mind) is set clown before a heap oi 
rags (experiences), which he wishes to make use of 
(knowing). He first notices (attention) that some of 
the rags are alike in colour, some in material, and 
some in both (attention and association). He proceeds 
to put them into groups according to colour and 
material (association). He then thinks that they 
may be used to make new material (higher atten- 
tion and association). He therefore reduces them to 
their elements and re-makes them, by delicate ma- 
chinery, into new and useful forms (highest forms of 
constructive attention and association). 

In short, we may regard attention and association 
as two features of knowing. Between them they 
reduce to order and significance the mental life. They 
crystallise, systematise, and unify the mind, so far as 
knowing is concerned. Attention is the interpreting 
power of mind, for it brings out the mental signifi- 
cance of experiences. But it would be impossible for 
it to do this to every detail, or even to every whole, of 
experience. It is, therefore, also a selecting activity, 
choosing to exercise itself upon that which is likely to 
be most fruitful to the mental life. As we have 
already seen, it is the adjusting activity which puts 
mind in the best attitude for receiving and responding 
to presentations. 

Finally, it is, in its highest form, the relating agent, 
for it finds out how experiences are related to each 
other by discovering the points of likeness and differ- 
ence in them, through comparing them ; and as a 



MIND 75 

result of this, a higher unity of meaning is formed. 
Thus, by giving careful attention to actions which strike 
us as being most satisfactory in their effects, both with 
regard to the doer and those whom the actions affect, 
we notice that they are based upon motives which we 
hold to be of the most worthy kind, and that they 
involve a method of dealing with persons and things 
which is equally admirable. We proceed, therefore, 
to abstract such elements from the persons and the 
actions, and build them up into separate units which 
we name right, virtue, equity, &c. It is the special 
work of attention to find in the world of experiences, 
which would otherwise be an infinite chaos, all the 
units and unities of meaning that it can. Only so 
can our mental life be rational. Such processes con- 
stitute the highest activity of knowing, viz., reasoning. 
Throughout these processes attention is accompanied 
and aided by the two forms of association. 

Of the highest forms of knowing we shall speak in 
more detail in later chapters. 

Willing". — Willing, like knowing and feeling, is 
elemental. It may be said to express the activity of 
mind. Since mind is a living organism, it must do as 
well as be, and this doing, as such, is the willing. No 
living thing, nor, in fact, any kind of thing, can ever be 
wholly passive or wholly active. There is always, and 
everywhere, action and reaction. It is not sufficient 
for the mind to be surrounded by countless forms of 
activity. It must take in some of these in a more or 
less sympathetic and responsive manner, or the in- 
fluences might as well not exist at all, so far as the 



76 EDUCATION 

mind is concerned, for they can never exist, in any 
significant sense, for it. 

Mind has native energy which can be stimulated, 
but cannot be commanded without, so to say, its own 
consent. It is this consenting or resisting power of 
mind which is referred to when we speak of willing. 
Even a little child can, and does — as a teacher too well 
knows — sometimes decline to receive the most enticing 
and favourably conditioned influences. This does not 
mean that the mind can cease to be active, for that 
would be mental suicide, but that it can be, if it chooses, 
more or less receptive, and can choose for itself what it 
will thus attend to. 

But the native energy of mind has higher duties than 
these, for it is able to be predominantly active, i.e., ag- 
gressive and initiative. Mind can guide and control 
its own activity, to a greater or a lesser degree, accord- 
ing to the suggestions of the knowing and feeling 
powers. But we can never leave out of account what 
we call the force of circumstance — i.e., the fact of other 
forms of activity — which must always more or less limit 
mind-activity and" self-control. This is the essence of 
our idea of a rational being as distinguished from an 
automaton. The latter can do, and must do, only certain 
things in a certain way, under certain conditions ; whilst 
the former may do one of many things, in one of many 
ways, under given conditions ; but there is a limit 
to these alternatives, for the reason mentioned above, 
and because of the limits and laws of mind's own 
nature. 

We may therefore express in a paraphrase the mean- 



MIND 77 

ing of the term willing by saying that it refers to the 
general self-activity of mind which guides and controls, 
to a greater or lesser degree, its particular activities. 
Before inquiring more closely into what may be said to 
constitute this guiding and controlling self-activity of 
mind, it will be helpful to consider the matter from the 
point of view of its being predominantly passive or pre- 
dominantly active in the mental life. 

Active and Passive Willing- — Attention is a form of 
willing, and when we spoke of attention being some- 
times due chiefly to the force and vividness of an im- 
pression, we were really referring to a case in which 
willing is predominantly passive. When, on the other 
hand, we spoke of attention as selecting, adjusting, and 
relating, we were concerned with acts of consciousness 
in which willing is predominantly active. As we then 
pointed out, the selecting, adjusting, and relating atten- 
tion are forms of knowing which largely depend upon 
previous knowings. It is clear, therefore, that the 
active and highest form of willing depends mainly 
upon knowing. Hence it must be a later development, 
since knowing is itself a development. In this higher 
form willing is a late development, whilst in its wider 
sense of mind's self-activity it is from the very begin- 
ning of mind. 

Spontaneous or Automatic Willing. — There is an almost 
entirely automatic element in every act of willing. If 
this were not so, we could not receive the influences 
which act upon mind, because it is necessary for us 
to be disposed to take them in without, at the very 
first, our having a conscious desire to do so. How 



78 EDUCATION 

could a little child be actively eager to -take in an 
impression of which it has had no previous experience 
whatever ? Of course we are now speaking of that con- 
senting of the mind which is really based upon knowing 
and feeling. 

In one sense the mind of a child is overwhelmingly 
disposed to receive, since its native energy seizes any 
and every chance of exercising itself. But this is a 
sort of working in the dark. In receiving all kinds of 
influences in such a free-and-easy manner the mind is 
chiefly passive, for it presents no barrier to their en- 
trance, and simply responds in a very vigorous but 
more or less indefinite way. 

This is also true of an adult under some circum- 
stances. If a person suddenly finds himself in new 
surroundings, he will often try not to give, at once, any 
definite meaning to his surroundings, but will simply 
stand quite still, and allow them to make whatever 
impression they can upon him first, as in the case of 
one who, having some rather complicated machinery 
shown to him, says: "Wait a moment; let me get a 
general impression of it first;" or, in tbat of a student 
who first reads quickly through a chapter to get a 
general impression of what it is about before seriously 
thinking about its meaning. So far as such effects 
depend, from the mental side, upon our allowing our- 
selves to be acted upon, the willing is said to be auto- 
matic, or spontaneous. 

This spontaneous or automatic element is the basis 
of the higher forms, for here as elsewhere we cannot 
start from nothing : something must happen to begin 



MIND 79 

with, and from this comes more and better. Just as 
in feeling and knowing the first occasions for such acti- 
vities are found in the bodily activities, so the first 
exercise of will, in the above sense, accompanies, 
follows, and precedes muscular movements. The 
healthy baby is full of bodily vigour, and kicks and 
vocalises with great frequency and force. Answering 
to this there must be those activities of mind which 
take account of the sensations accompanying them. 
Before long the little one learns to withdraw its body 
from anything that is too hot, or too cold ; and soon, 
also, learns to grasp and shake the rattle which it likes 
to hear. But the last named is a comparatively rare 
kind of activity when compared with the never-ceasing 
variety of the more passive kind. 

Instinctive Willing. — Actions with a purpose which 
is clearly known and due to the mind itself also have 
their origin in something which is a good deal less than 
that which it later becomes. Man as an organism has 
a certain system of needs which must be provided for 
from the very commencement of life, or he will die. It 
is found that the young of mammals are from the first 
able to perform the series of actions necessary for 
obtaining the mother's milk ; a young chicken can so 
nicely adjust its actions as to pick up its food imme- 
diately after leaving the egg ; birds provide themselves 
with nests for the breeding season ; and so on. 

Now such actions as these really involve a system of 
willings, but they are not known to the individual 
as being connected with one another and the result. 
So to say, it is necessary for a conscious being to know 



80 EDUCATION 

how to do some things before he is able to learn how to 
do them. He must be able to will right actions, in the 
right order, and at the right time. We do will in such 
a way, but we do not know that we are doing so. 
Such willing is named instinctive. It is most common 
in early life, but is always present in a greater or lesser 
degree throughout life. 

There is still another feature in the progress of will- 
ing from the more purely passive and automatic to the 
predominantly active and selective. Human beings are 
not only very receptive with regard to the influences 
which objects exert upon them, but they also respond 
very readily to the impressions which the actions of 
individuals make on them. The response is often so 
full and forcible that it results in a reproducing of the 
actions in their own persons. A little child who is 
listening to a story, told with dramatic skill, will frown 
when the narrator frowns, smile when he smiles, and 
even start backwards if he does so. In like manner, 
highly sensitive adults will imitate the actions of others. 
It is because of this tendency to carry out the 
suggestions which actions convey to the mind that we 
find that children copy so closely the peculiarities of 
their parents with respect to speech, facial expression, 
gait, general body pose, &c. We may call this imita- 
tive willing. At first it is mainly automatic, but later 
it is entirely due to self-activity. It is the basis of 
much, if not all, of our highest constructive thought, 
e.g., compare how Brunei got his idea for the Thames 
Tunnel from the boring of an insect. 

Having examined the more passive elements in will- 



MIND 8 1 

ing, we shall be able better to understand what is 
involved in the higher forms, where self-activity is the 
chief factor. But let us always bear in mind what is 
always true, and very important, viz., that there is 
always a more or less developed germ of the higher 
forms in the lower, and that the lower are the basis of. 
and, in however slight a degree, accompany the higher. 
Elements of Willing. —Willing, in its higher form, 
and in the sense in which we always think of it as be- 
longing to a rational being, is made up of several 
factors, each of which depends npon the more highly 
developed powers of mind. Let us try to analyse an 
ordinarily simple case of willing. What is involved in 
a person's willing to learn swimming ? The first thing 
we should inquire about, with regard to it, would be 
the reason for such willing. We should take it for 
granted that there was something which caused the 
person so to will, that some experience had happened 
to him, or he had heard of some other person's experi- 
ence, either in the way of harm or advantage, which led 
him to judge that it would be well to learn. This we 
call the motive for the willing. As we have already 
seen — in the discussion of feeling — a most common and 
powerful motive is feeling. The fact that we know 
that a feeling is likely to do us good or harm causes us 
to consider how we can best obtain the largest amount 
of good, or the least extent of harm. Also, through 
the association of one feeling with others, an experience 
may lead us to think of a series of other feelings, 
desirable or undesirable, which we may enjoy or escape 
by a certain course of action. 



82 EDUCATION 

Because particular feelings are so related to the 
general present and future well-being, or ill-being, of 
the individual that they command our special attention, 
we say that they have interest from this point of view. 
All feelings, as such, have a direct interest for us in 
that they are desirable or undesirable, and they may 
have a remote and complex interest for us, inasmuch as 
they have more or less important bearings on our future 
conditions, plans, hopes, &c. This element of interest 
in our feelings is, therefore, a motive for willing, in 
every case. 

Interest may be called the initiating element in 
willing. If the influences which act upon us do not 
definitely affect us through arousing in us thoughts and 
judgments about the definite feelings of pleasure or 
pain which they involve, or through suggesting the 
likelihood of such, then we say that they have no in- 
terest for us, or that they do not appeal to us. In such 
cases there will be no motive for willing. But, when- 
ever influences affect us so that there is a strong, and 
practically irresistible, impulse to attend more or less 
rigorously, then we say that they have interest for us. 

Interests are either original or acquired. The activi- 
ties which are necessary to the mental and physical life 
have very great interest for us, inasmuch as any failure 
in them generally brings acute pain, whilst their proper 
performance insures a very large amount of pleasure. 
Thus thinking, knowing, feeling, &c, eating, drinking, 
working, &c, always have interest for us. And we 
also find that things connected with the forms and 
modes of life and thought to which we have become 



MIND 83 

used through frequent and continued experiences, have 
special interest for us. Just as a healthy body insists 
upon more or less exercise, which brings about the need 
and longing for nourishment, so the mind demands 
exercise, for there is a native curiosity or desire to know, 
which can only be satisfied by some form of knowledge. 

The expectation of pleasure or pain, the desire to 
bring about some mental or bodily condition to agree 
with our ideals, the tendency to continue customary 
actions, the attractiveness of novelty, &c, all serve to 
arouse and sustain interest, whilst too much sameness 
(repetition without variation), exhaustive knowledge of a 
thing or a phase of it, defect of knowledge, slowness of 
progress, &c, all tend to decrease or destroy the interest 
in experiences. 

In a very broad sense it is true that all motives are 
feelings, since we cannot have any form of mental ex- 
perience without its particular kind of feeling, which 
gives it its special value for us, and which largely de- 
cides the nature of the willing. But, in that sometimes 
we have mental states in which the purely intellectual 
is very predominant and feeling quite subordinate, and 
that these mental states lead, as motives, to some form 
of willing, it is as well to regard knowing as also acting 
as an impulse. 

In most, if not all, cases there would be some amount 
of thought before any judgment on a particular matter 
would be reached. A person would probably discuss 
whether, say, a particular advantage would repay the 
effort and time taken to obtain it, or whether he could not 
better occupy his leisure, and so on. There would be a 



84 EDUCATION 

sort of general mental debate about the subject. This 
is known as deliberation. 

The end of this deliberation would be that some one 
or other of the various alternatives which presented 
themselves to the mind, would be taken as the best. 
This is choice. Choice will be according to knowing, 
for one would certainly choose that which, in one way 
or another, he thought, from his knowledge of what is 
involved, would be likely to be for the best. 

As a result of the above, the mind takes up a certain, 
general attitude toward a matter. We may describe 
this by saying that there is a wanting of, or wishing for, 
something. This is desire. But this does not include 
the real force that there is in true willing. One might 
very much desire to be able to swim across the Atlantic, 
but would not be likely to think of willing it, because 
it would be held to be impossible. Again, a person 
dying of thirst in the Sahara would desire above all 
things to have a drink of water, but, if he were con- 
vinced that there was none within thirty miles of him, 
he would not will to get some. 

The nest point, therefore, is to feel convinced that a 
certain course of action will accomplish what is desired. 
Then the mind is, so to say, seized on, and possessed 
by, the idea of carrying out such a series of actions, 
and such is the power and force of a true willing that 
the body is so influenced by it as to perform the appro- 
priate physical actions. Of course we may will to bring 
about a purely mental result, in which case further 
mental actions will follow. This part of willing we 
call impulse, which is the mentally demanding and 



MI1STD 8 5 

striving for that which is desired,, and includes the 
representation of a motor series, i.e., the bringing before 
the mind the idea of those actions which, we judge, will 
accomplish what we desire. 

Since we cannot usually carry out the actions in- 
volved in a willing in a very short time, it is necessary 
that the mind should maintain its conditions, or renew 
it at intervals, for some time. The doing of this con- 
stitutes resolution. 

Habit. — A very important and valuable feature in 
willing is that, after a sufficient number of repetitions 
of a similar kind of willing, it at last becomes automatic. 
We have numerous instances of this in our everyday 
life. Consider, for example, how slowly, and with what 
difficulty, one at first learns to will the proper position, 
force, direction, &c, of a motion in learning to play 
lawn-tennis, but how, after careful judgment and much 
practice, all these things are done immediately at the 
mere suggestion given by the position of a very rapidly 
moving ball. Those of the higher kinds of willing 
which have become automatic form what we call habit. 
We must carefully distinguish this from the spon- 
taneous, or automatic, willing, which is from the 
beginning of the mental life. Spontaneous willing is 
primary, or original, automatic willing ; whilst habit is 
secondary, or derived, automatic willing. 

Habit is an economising agency in mind. When a 
series of willings, and the actions which accompany 
them, have become habitual, then the mental energy 
which would otherwise have been occupied in giving 
the necessary attention, judgment, &c, to the matter is 



86 EDUCATION 

set free for elaborating and perfecting the details of 
the whole, or for occupying itself with something else. 
Thus, further and higher progress is made easier and 
more rapid. 

Both the lowest and the higher forms of willing are 
thus automatic. The former is necessary to existence 
and the latter to a high development. The latter is the 
result of much thought and experience, but the former 
precedes, though it also continues to accompany, the 
higher mental life. 

Character and Individuality. — As more and more 
habits are formed and become permanently established, 
the whole of the mental life, and therefore the usual 
modes of thought and action, become coloured by them. 
Thus the tradesman is inclined to regard everything 
from the profit-and-loss point of view ; the sailor ac- 
quires an almost irresistible tendency to be continually 
going from one part of the world to another ; the poli- 
tician thinks of matters as occasions for speeches or 
acts of parliament ; and so on. Again, we speak of 
persons as resolute, fickle, moody, lively, musical, auto- 
cratic, &c. This tendency always to act with a certain 
kind of bias we call disposition. 

The total effect of the various habits which a person 
has formed, and of his original dispositions and powers 
• — i.e., the sum of his fixed qualities — makes up his cha- 
racter. Character, therefore, is the name for that 
general consistency of will and action which arises 
from the formation of habits, and which gives to a 
person those special differences of mind and body 
which mark him off from all others. 



MIND 87 

Now, character expresses the individuality of a man, 
and therefore all that is of the highest value in him 
as a rational being. It is, as we have seen, the out- 
come of the higher willing, which can only come from 
the self-activity of the individual mind. That only is 
counted as belonging to the individuality of a man 
which comes from his own judgment and feeling. 
Thus we say of a man who merely copies the habits of 
another, or is always content to do what some other 
person suggests or commands, that he has no individu- 
ality, no character, no will of his own. Only when the 
mind has the power of acting for itself in judging 
about the experiences which it has, and in willing for 
itself according to these judgments, can it be considered 
to have reached the higher form of willing, and to have 
attained to that level of independence of mental activity 
which is proper to the human being.. 

The Normal. — All pure science is really ideal, for it 
always assumes normal beings and conditions. In 
education we understand a normal being to be one who 
has all the mental and bodily powers in a thoroughly 
sound and satisfactory form. By normal conditions we 
mean such as are exactly suitable in all respects. We 
never actually meet with such perfection, but average 
persons and conditions approach more or less closely 
to it. 

The idea is got by idealising what we know of the 
real. This is then used as a standard of judgment, and 
is as necessary as helpful. It is only through the ideal 
that we can fully understand the real. 



CHAPTER III 

GENEKAL PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 

Having passed in review some of the most important 
truths concerning mind and the mental life, we must 
now try to set forth what are the kinds of principles 
and conditions the observance of which will be most 
likely to bring about, most completely and perfectly, 
the greatest and best development of the mental powers 
and activities. Not only must we know what are 
the kinds of principles and conditions which will do 
this, but we must obtain as complete a knowledge of 
their nature as we can. We are not now concerned 
with the ways in which we should apply such things 
so as to bring about the development most success- 
fully, these belonging to the study of the methods of 
education, but only with the nature and kinds of 
that which we should apply. Knowledge for knowl- 
edge's sake is what we now seek. The question of 
how we ought to use such knowledge for practical 
purposes is an entirely distinct matter. We are 
still in the region of pure science, or of organised 
knowledge, as knowledge. 

From what we know of the nature of mind, and of 
the influences which act upon it, and also from the 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 



89 



teachings of experience, we find out' what are the best 
influences and conditions for mental development. To 
find out the nature of mind is, to a large extent, to find 
out what is best suited to its well-being, just as 
to know the nature of a plant is to understand what it 
takes into its system, how it takes it, by what means 
and in what ways it uses it, and what kinds and con- 
ditions of things are best for it. 

Growth and Development. — Before dealing in detail 
with the means of securing development, we must dis- 
tinguish clearly between development and growth. By 
growth we mean mere increase of size, or extent, or 
volume and strength of the organism ; whilst by de- 
velopment is to be understood an increase in the ease, 
quickness, accuracy, and completeness of the organic 
activities, and an increased ability to do more difficult, 
more profound, and more complex actions. Both the 
mind and the body of an idiot increase in extent and 
power, but they do very little in the way of taking on 
new and higher forms of activities. There is a good 
deal of growth, but very little development. Growth 
involves very little more than the increase of strength 
which ordinarily accompanies the increase of size, 
but development includes the increase of skill which 
usually comes with the increase of strength. 

The Principle of Stimulation. — Inasmuch as mind is 
a living organism, its very being depends upon, and is 
expressed by, its activity. Now this activity not only 
requires something to act upon, but it must be acted 
upon by something. Hence there must be stimulation 
as a means to and condition of mental development. 



90 EDUCATION 

But too much or too strong stimulation would be 
destructive, and too little or too weak would tend to 
mere growth. There must, therefore, if possible, be a 
properly proportioned amount and force of stimula- 
tion. And not only must there be such an appropriate 
quality and intensity of stimulus, but these must vary 
with the gradually increasing power of mind. 

These points are so fully illustrated by our ordinary 
experience, that it will not be necessary to do more 
than refer to the usual mental work of childhood, 
youth, and manhood, the evils of unsuitable work, and 
the doing too much or too little, as showing their 
importance. 

The kinds of stimuli which must be used will, of 
course, be all those which influence any part of the 
mental life. Of these we have already said something, 
and shall have more to say in our later discussions. 
Broadly speaking, they are the sense activities, and the 
mental activities themselves. 

As we have previously remarked, nature does very 
little, if anything, in the way of carefully providing 
for the needs of each individual in such a way as to 
procure its most perfect development. Neither could 
the very young, inexperienced, and immature individual 
provide for its own needs to the greatest advantage, 
even if it had the necessary knowledge. Stimulation 
there would undoubtedly be, but it would more often 
destroy by its excess, or defect, than preserve and 
perfect by its special fitness. Hence the need of the 
educator who shall influence the influences so as to 
further, to the greatest possible extent, the well-being 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 91 

of the person concerned. The educator is, therefore, an 
indirect stimulus to proper mental development, through 
his regulating influence upon the direct stimuli. He 
does not supplant natural influences, but supplements 
them, and makes them most effective by guiding and 
controlling them. 

Another point which needs very careful considera- 
tion is, how long the mind can go on working con- 
secutively, so as to do its best work during such time ; 
and thus, in the long run, do the greatest total amount 
of its best work. Too little or too much energy in 
mental work, if continued too long or not long enough, 
is generally wasteful, and likely to be harmful. Just 
as in the industrial world it is being shown that more 
and better work is, as a rule, done by those artisans 
who work eight hours a day, than by those who work 
twelve, fourteen, or more hours a day ; so we find that 
thinkers who work too many hours a day accomplish 
neither so much or so satisfactory work as those who 
spend less time at their tasks. Stimulation must, 
therefore, be regulated accordingly. 

There is in mental work what the political econo- 
mist calls the law of increasing returns, and the law 
of diminishing returns. The more we increase the 
mental energy, up to the point of its greatest work- 
ing power, the greater and better will be the results 
which are obtained. The mind can go on working 
at such a rate for a certain length of time only. So 
far, we have the law of increasing returns, in answer 
to the supplying of increasing stimulation, up to what 
we may call the law of continued greatest returns, 



92 EDUCATION 

which depends upon the maintaining of the proper 
stimulus. 

After this there comes the falling-ofF. Although 
the same amount of stimulus is applied, the results 
continue to decrease. This is because miud is like 
other living organisms in requiring time to replace the 
loss of energy which takes place in its ordinary work- 
ing. As in all organisms, so in mind, there is a 
rhythmic rise and fall of energy, under ordinary con- 
ditions. Therefore as the supply of mental energy is 
gradually exhausted, no amount of stimulation can 
cause the mind to maintain its previous efficiency. 
A very intense stimulation may cause spasmodic bursts 
of energy, but this will only the more quickly and 
severely exhaust the miud. This is the law of diminish- 
ing returns. At first the decline is very slight and 
slow, but after a time it becomes very considerable 
and rapid, and if allowed to go on, becomes destructive 
to the extent of causing death. It is important to 
observe that, after a certain amount of exhaustion, the 
mind seems to lose the power of easily recuperating 
itself, and there arises a state of general mental de- 
bility, which is accompanied by a feeling of lassitude 
and depression, and which may develop into something 
more serious. 

A good example of these laws is seen in agriculture, 
in connection with which they were first expounded. 
The soil is always being acted upon by all kinds of 
chemical, physical, and other forms of activities, and 
cannot but produce something or other. But if we 
want the most and best products from it, we must 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 93 

cultivate it, i.e., supplement, guide, and control the 
forces and influences which act upon it. Cultivation has, 
however, its limits, because the productiveness of the 
soil has its bounds, and depends upon conditions which 
the proper amount of cultivation alone can make most 
effective, but as to which too much help becomes a 
hindrance. Thus the more we stimulate the soil by 
draining, digging, ploughing, manuring, weeding, &c, 
up to a certain point, the larger and better are the 
crops. This greatest productiveness could not, how- 
ever, go on indefinitely. Even though we had eternal 
summer, there could not be crop immediately succeed- 
ing crop, and all of the best. The land must lie fallow 
occasionally, as well as have change in the crops it pro- 
duces. Thus the land illustrates the laws of increasing 
returns and continued greatest returns. 

The soil also shows how the law of diminishing 
returns applies. If crops were made immediately to 
succeed each other for an indefinite time, they would, 
gradually at first and more rapidly later, decrease in 
quantity and quality. Too much draining makes the 
land too dry ; too much digging or ploughing would 
prevent the proper atmospheric influences working 
successfully, or turn up the worst part of the soil ; too 
much manuring would cause a too rapid growth or 
prevent it altogether, &c. ; and thus each and all would 
diminish the value of the final results. 

There appears to have been no systematic attempt 
to work out the quantitative side of these laws with 
regard to mental work. That is, we have few reliable 
statistics, gained by scientific observation and experi- 



94 EDUCATION 

ment, which show what may be regarded as the 
average amount of mental work, at as nearly as 
possible the highest rate of energy, which the child, 
the youth, and the adult, can perform, so as to get 
the best possible results. Nor are there any authori- 
tative opinions as to what amount constitutes harmful 
overworking, or underworking, of the mind. It is a 
matter for serious regret and reproach, that the 
highest and most valuable form of human energy 
has not received the attention which has long ago been 
given to mechanical and animal activity. The import- 
ance of such knowledge in guiding our efforts to develop 
the mind to the greatest advantage is obvious. 

In all probability school children are still being 
very much overworked with regard to the mind-effort 
required from them during the daily school hours. 
Much more play and manual recreation, and less con- 
tinuous mental work, would be likely to give con- 
siderably better mental results. Mr. Edwin Chadwick, 
who has given special attention to the subject, holds 
that children from seven to eight years of age should 
not work more than from two and a half to three hours 
a day ; those from eight to ten years old, from three 
to three and a half hours ; from ten to twelve, about 
four hours ; from twelve to fifteen, between five and 
six hours ; and from fifteen to eighteen, never more 
than eight hours, allowing intervals for recreation 
out of these times. He maintains that children who 
only attend as " half-timers " make as good progress 
as those who attend full time, in elementary schools. 

The Principle of Nourishment. — That which most 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 95 

stimulates and supports activity in an organism is 
nourishment. From one point of view, we may look 
upon all organic activity as being, for the most part, 
the expression of the need for, and the using of, 
nourishment. That which lives is constantly seeking 
and assimilating food. This kind of action is always 
going on, but the energy and power thus obtained are 
used for higher purposes than the mere continuation of 
the processes involved. A plant, for example, develops 
graces of form and colour which, so far as is known, have 
no direct bearing on their preservation or reproduction ; 
and a man, in all points in which he is more and 
better than an intelligent animal, has gone beyond 
the bare requirements of providing only for the con- 
tinuation of life. In considering what is required 
in the way of nourishment, we must, therefore, bear 
in mind the highest forms of mental life which are 
known to us. 

The proper nourishment for the mind is such in- 
fluences as will occasion and promote the best con- 
ditions of feeling, knowing, and willing. As we have 
already pointed out, these ends will be best secured 
by those influences which give the highest forms of 
knowledge. 

It is clear that in bringing influences to bear upon 
the mind for the purpose of obtaining the most 
desirable states of feeling, we must, as a rule, take 
the bodily conditions into account very largely. For 
the present, however, we will take all the details of 
the bodily activities for granted, and only consider 
the mental element which accompanies them. It is, of 



96 EDUCATION 

course, desirable ordinarily to have neither an exces- 
sive nor a defective amount of feeling. But this must 
not be allowed to become a monotonous uniformity. 
And it is not likely to be so even if we try our 
hardest to make it, for the conditions by which we are 
surrounded change too frequently, and with too great 
variety of quantity and quality, to allow of it. We 
need not, therefore, except as to the artificial con- 
ditions which we ourselves set up, trouble ourselves 
about preventing sameness, but rather take steps to 
regulate the variety. 

This consideration may be said to demand and 
justify the schoolroom and the study, with their limi- 
tations and rules. In the open air we are affected by 
too many and often too forcible influences. Strong 
and very varied feelings very rapidly succeed each 
other, so that their value, as feelings, is not fully 
appreciated, and there is little of connected and 
systematic relating of them to each other and the 
rest of the mental life. It is as though one should 
try to get the greatest amount of the pleasures of 
taste from wines by sipping as many different kinds 
as possible in a given time. Epicures have learnt 
that the rather slow and continued sipping of one 
kind at a time gives the greatest pleasure, through a 
kind of accumulation of effect. 

So in the school the conditions which arouse 
feelings are limited, connected, and controlled. Both 
intense excitement and apathy are regarded as evils, 
and guarded against. But quiet and fervour are both 
used as occasional helps. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 97 

Feelings thus regulated may be regarded as being 
the most assimilative, and, therefore, the most nutri- 
tive. We can hardly regard any feeling as being 
wholly non-assimilative, for its very existence shows 
that it has entered into mind. Still, some feelings 
cause a state of mental conflict, and, so far, may be 
classed as non-assimilative. 

The Principle of Pleasure. — As has been pointed out, 
feelings which are in harmony with the general mental 
condition (if normal) produce a state of pleasure. 
We may conclude, therefore, that pleasure is, as a 
rale, most helpful to the good development of mind, 
and that pain, as a rule, is a barrier and hindrance. 
So that it is necessary for us to give mental nourish- 
ment in such a way that it shall cause as much 
pleasure and as little pain as possible. 

It should be noticed that here We are dealing with 
what applies to the nourishment itself, and not to the 
means which it may be necessary to employ in order 
to get the individual to receive it. The latter subject, 
which involves the question of rewards and punish- 
ments, we shall deal with later on. 

At the same time, we must recognise that sometimes 
it will happen that the mental food which is, in the 
long run, the best for us is not always of a very 
attractive or even unobjectionable kind. Just as in 
the bodily food we now and again have to include 
medicinal supplements, correctives, &c, which are by 
no means pleasant, so also mental experiences have at 
times to be profitable rather than pleasurable. But 
such inevitable necessities are frequent enough, and 

a 



98 EDUCATION" 

the ordinary difficulties, dangers, and drawbacks 
attending pleasurable experiences are real enough, to 
render it unnecessary that we should try to make 
mental nourishment difficult or distasteful to the 
receiver, simply for the sake of trying to avoid having 
tilings too easy for him. The endeavour to get the 
highest and best progress and development at a 
reasonably rapid rate, can never allow the individual 
to have a too easy or too pleasurable time. 

If we desire, and strive for, pleasure for its own sake, 
either in the form of excessive indulgence in those 
feelings which we most enjoy, or by trying to avoid 
all the mental efforts we can (intellectual sloth) — a 
state of mental over-feeding, or under-exercising — we 
shall have too much pleasure, and shall be mentally 
degraded thereby. But this is fatal to progress and 
development of the best kind. So if we gain develop- 
ment during steady persistence — either willingly or 
unwillingly — in receiving more painful than pleasurable 
feelings, it will result in a one-sided, limited, and often 
mischievous mental character. 

It is important to recognise that we can bring about 
an almost infinite variety of feelings in an individual, 
because we can affect the body in such ways that con- 
sciousness can hardly fail to take account of them, though 
remarkable cases occur in which a person, by sheer 
force of willing, can remain for some time more or less 
insensible to physical influences. Both phases are 
strikingly illustrated in a hypnotised person, in whom, 
it is held, a concentrated energy of willing has been 
produced. Such an one can be made to become 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 99 

practically insensible to the ordinary painful effects of 
having a long pin thrust into him, or can be caused to 
suffer the most acute and agonising pains from a sug- 
gested toothache. This is of course a very extreme 
example, but, to a much less extent, similar results 
occur when the attention is directed either positively or 
negatively towards certain physical stimuli. 

At the same time, it must be observed that we do 
not communicate the feelings, but bring about the 
conditions which are ordinarily accompanied by them. 
For, unless the consciousness is receptively and respon- 
sively active, there is very little, if any, feeling. 

As in feeling so in knowing, we cannot give the 
individual knowledge, as such, directly ; we can only 
supply the conditions which are most likely to result in 
his acquiring knowledge. And it is perhaps a good 
deal more true of knowing than of feeling that the 
individual cau resist, more easily and successfully, the 
endeavour to influence him ; though it is also the case 
that there are some conditions in which it is practically 
impossible for him to do so. The fact of having a feel- 
ing involves the receiving of some knowledge — the 
knowledge of a change, of the general effect of this 
change on the mind, of the general nature of the 
object or objects, if any, involved, &c. 

But, however much one may try to reject a certain 
kind of knowledge, or the receiving of knowledge under 
certain conditions, there must always be the taking in of 
knowledge so long as the consciousness is alive. The 
mind begins to die in commencing to cease to know. 
The vital activity of mind expresses itself in the effort 



100 EDUCATION 

to take in mental nurture, i.e., knowledge. There is an 
inevitable appetitive activity in mind, which we may 
term its native curiosity. However difficult it may be 
to direct a mind so as to lead it to get the kind of 
knowledge we may desire it to have, and to get it in a 
certain way, it is impossible to prevent its ob- 
taining some sort of knowledge, in some way or 
other. 

The principle of pleasure has, of course, by far the 
most to do with the development of feeling, but, as 
supplying the best condition of the mind for acquiring 
knowledge, it has to do with the development of know- 
ing also. The will is probably least affected by it 
directly, but it is at least freed from being distracted 
when otherwise concentrated. 

The Principle of Inter-relation and Inter-dependence. — 
One of the most essential points in education is 
the determining what relation of subjects is the 
most effective. Since we have to form a mind whose 
great general characteristics are continuity, coherence, 
system, and unity, it is clearly of great consequence so 
to arrange the influencing conditions as to harmonise 
with these characteristics. In short, we must strive 
to obtain continuity, coherence, system, and unity 
amongst the knowledge agencies, for only so can we 
helpfully influence the mental development in these 
respects. 

The problem then is : what subjects ought to be 
secured for the purpose of producing the most and best 
knowledge in the growing mind ; in what way, and in 
what order, should these subjects be allowed to in- 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 101 

fluence the mind ; and afc what periods in the mental 
life ought the different subjects to be made use of? 
The first two points we will briefly consider now, 
leaving the fuller treatment of them, and a discussion 
of the third point, for later chapters. 

To get a really well- developed mind, we must, as far 
as possible, exercise and nourish every one of its powers. 
To do this it is necessary to bring every kind of influence 
to bear upon it. It is obviously impossible to do this 
in detail, but it is possible to subject the mind to some 
of the most important, common, and representative 
kinds of influences, and thus bring about a more or less 
general and harmonious mental development. 

As we have already pointed out, we can, so to say, 
bring the world and its activities, in miniature, before 
a child in the schoolroom. We can give it knowledge 
of aesthetic phenomena by pictures, vocal and instru- 
mental music, sculpture, &c. ; of the human and ethical 
through literature, history, and the moral sciences, &c. ; 
of the animal and material through the physical sciences 
and the manual arts, &c. ; and so on. School labora- 
tories, models, &c, extend, by type, the ordinary per- 
sonal experience of the individual in such a way that 
all knowledge has a solid basis in the real ; whilst 
diagrams, pictures, and school-books supply information 
which can be interpreted according to the knowledge 
gained by such experiences, and which, therefore, has 
rational reality and real significance. 

The family and the school supply the experiences 
which can be made to convey knowledge of the social 
world. Thus the purely intellectual, the ethical, the 



102 EDUCATION 

social, and the physical powers of man can all be 
developed. 

The ideal should be : to get such conditions to act 
upon the individual, and for hirn to act upon, that the 
mind may become all that is possible to it, in the 
highest form and to the greatest extent. The miud 
should be so exercised and developed by the conditions 
which surround it, that it becomes able to take up an 
intelligent attitude towards all forms of knowledge. 
It should acquire such powers and methods that it will 
seldom, if ever, be entirely at a loss in dealing with 
new combinations of experience and fresh forms of 
knowledge. Only the difficulties of detail will, as a. 
rule, trouble such a mind, except in the region of dis- 
covery. We must, in short, make use of all the differ- 
ent kinds of knowledge influences as conditions for 
securing the greatest and best mental development. 

In considering the way and order in which such con- 
ditions should be made to influence the mind, we have 
to deal with the manner and sequence in which we 
should use the different kinds of knowledge influences of 
which we know, i.e., the method, order, and relation we 
should employ in trying to get the individual to under- 
stand the knowledge which belongs to the different 
sciences and arts. 

Attention has been drawn to the fact that all new 
presentations depend very much for their meaning and 
fulness upon what is already in the mind, of a like 
nature, through the accumulation and interpretative 
effects of re-presentations. Thus new knowledge de- 
pends upon and is largely formed by the old. Care 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 103 

must, therefore, be taken to connect, as far as possible, 
one subject of knowledge with another, in the sense of 
making the one grow out of and develop from the 
other. Thus all subjects of knowledge should be inter- 
related, and dependency developed. For so the greatest 
amount of help is given to the developing mind, because 
its own nature is thus most nearly conformed with. 
The working out of a system of knowledge subjects, 
related with a view to secure their greatest values as 
developing influences, is known as the theory of cor- 
relation, co-ordination, concentration, or, as we have 
termed it, inter-relation and inter-dependence of sub- 
jects of instruction. 

The first point to be decided upon, with regard to 
such an inter-relation and inter-dependence of subjects, 
is: what is to be the knowledge subject whose develop- 
ing influences are the very first to be used. A little 
thought will convince us of the supreme importance of 
deciding rightly as to this. Also, from the subject 
which is selected for this purpose we must develop the 
succeeding subjects, and this development should be as 
easy, simple, and direct, as we can possibly make it. 
Comenius says : " All the studies must form one 
whole ; must proceed from one root." 

Let us consider what principle should guide us in 
making the selection. Whatever form of influence 
first affects the individual, and is most freely responded 
to by him, is clearly the one which has the greatest 
fitness in many ways. And if we find that the history 
of the race goes to show that what is true of the infant 
of to-day has been true in a larger sense of the infant 



104 EDUCATION 

race, and that out of the results of such influences have 
come all the various knowledge subjects, then we may 
be satisfied that we have found the right subject to 
begin with. 

There can be no doubt that the first kind of influences 
by which an individual is affected, and to which he 
most freely responds, is that exercised by all kinds of 
physical objects and forces. As a result of this he soon 
becomes able to recognise one object from another, 
and to know something about the concrete nature of 
objects, e.g., that an object is hard or soft, cold or warm, 
sweet or bitter, &c. And it is from this kind of know- 
ledge that the more detailed and more scientific forms 
are developed. It is from objects that we get our 
concrete notions of form, colour, number, &c, and it is 
in relation to them and their activities that language 
is first used. We transfer the names of bodily 
activities to mental ones when we say that we see 
(the eye) the truth of an idea ; we grasp (the hand) 
the meaning of a remark ; we overthrow (physical act) 
an argument, &c. 

Now, this knowledge of objects gained through our 
experiences of their parts and powers constitutes, in 
its higher forms, the various physical sciences. It thus 
appears that scientific knowledge, in its simplest and 
most primitive form, is the proper subject to be used 
as the very first kind of knowledge-influences for 
mental development. It will consist of a simple and 
direct arrangement of knowledge about those common 
objects which surround the individual, in such a way as to 
lead most easily and directly to other forms of knowledge. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 105 

For example : at first the child, during the time that 
it is unable to talk, is merely brought under the more or 
less systematised (household arrangements and nursery 
toys) influences of objects. When it is able to speak, 
language symbols are used to help to make clearer, 
fuller, and more lasting the effects of these influences. 
Number names, object names, action names, quality 
names, &c, are used as freely and fully as possible. 
All this, however, in the form of talk only. So is laid 
the foundations of arithmetic and the mathematical 
sciences, of reading, grammar, and literature, and of 
the physical sciences. Later on, as the bodily powers 
develop, the child is taught how to make its own re- 
cords, through imitative outlines and forms, and 
written language symbols, and in this way it may 
be said to be introduced to drawing, painting, sculp- 
ture, and history. The experiences connected with 
the local surroundings lead on to geography and 
natural history, botany, &c, in their wider and deeper 
meaning. 

Froebel seems to have realised this truth, and sought 
to put it into practice in his kindergarten. The most 
valuable element of the kindergarten system is the 
systematic way in which it aims at developing the 
higher forms of knowledge from the ordinary playful 
activity of the child, and its inevitable observations 
and impressions of the common objects by which it is 
surrounded. Objects and actions are arranged and 
grouped in a connected and significant manner. Froebel 
insisted that life always forms a complete whole, and 
that the idea of education as a mere collection of 



106 EDUCATION 

subjects of instruction was a false and mischievous one. 
There must be unity throughout the process. 

The kindergarten gifts satisfy the child's desire for 
playful activity, and also serve as knowledge influences 
as to form, colour, material, number, and names : as 
developing agents as to powers of observation in seeing 
likeness and difference : as simple thought exercises in 
judging how to arrange sticks, wires, strips of paper, 
&c, to imitate the form, size, pattern, &c, of given 
models, and in creating original variations on these : 
and as opportunities for simple information as to the 
qualities and powers of common things. 

This is the idea of organic growth, as against that of 
mere accumulation of parts : the idea of the development 
of the inner according to its own proper nature, through 
the assimilation of the outer, according to its proper 
nature, as against that of merely plastering the external 
on to the internal : the idea of true development as 
against that of mere accumulation. 

The above will serve to indicate the nature of the 
principle involved in the correlation of studies. To 
discuss the subject at length would require a separate 
book. Tiiere has been a considerable amount written 
about the matter, and much of the best work of recent 
writers has dealt with it, some of them having worked 
out a detailed syllabus of work to illustrate, and prac- 
tically realise, the right application of the principle. 

Reflection will show that such a system also accords 
with the progressive activity of attention, since it is a 
continual increasing of the breadth and depth of mental 
assimilation and discrimination of the elements of 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 107 

experience, and the resulting classifications into new 
and more significant groups. Moreover, an orderly and 
constructive arrangement of knowledge influences will 
not only aid, but will practically compel, an orderly 
and constructive mental association of knowledge. In 
brief, system and unity in the product are most likely 
to be produced by system and unity in the processes. 

Educational Values. — Some aspects of the value of the 
mental nourishment with which we seek to develop the 
mind, demand further notice. Some knowledge sub- 
jects are specially rich in mental nourishment, or 
are particularly well suited for exercising mind in a 
gymnastic sense ; some have a sort of tonic effect upon 
the whole mind; and others are most valuable as helps 
in practical life. These are generally spoken of as edu- 
cational values. According to our definition of education, 
we cannot regard the last of them as being strictly edu- 
cational, except in so far as they provide stimulative 
interest. 

As a matter of fact, there is no knowledge subject 
which has not got more or less of all the educational 
values, but just as some bodily foods contain a greater 
amount of flesh-forming and heat-giving properties 
than others, whilst all contain more or less of each, so 
some knowledge subjects possess a high degree of one 
kind of educational value, and very little of the others. 
We must, therefore, make a proper selection of subjects 
according as we desire to produce certain effects upon 
the mind. 

The principle of inter-relation and inter-dependence 
is primarily and chiefly concerned with the development 



108 EDUCATION 

of knowing; but its organising effect is general, and, 
therefore, it greatly assists in the developing of feeling 
and willing. 

Discipline Value- — We have taken development as 
the end of true education, and, therefore, the chief 
element of value for us in any knowledge subject is its 
power of exercising, calling forth, and enriching the 
powers of the mind. As an athlete who desires to get 
the greatest possible results from his bodily powers 
systematically arranges his diet and his exercise, so 
that both are in harmony with the nature, and pro- 
portionate to the strength, of his body; so we must 
nourish and exercise the mind on a definite and sound 
system. To submit the mental life to such conditions 
is to discipline it, and those knowledge subjects which 
seem to us to be best suited for this purpose are said 
to have great disciplinary value. 

If it be true that nothing is in the intellect which 
was not first in the senses, and, therefore, that all our 
highest forms of knowledge are based ultimately upon 
sense-given material, it is clear that the most nourishing 
knowledge subjects will be those which deal with our 
concrete experiences, such as the physical sciences. But 
it must not be forgotten that mind feeds upon itself, so 
to say, by getting higher values out of the thoughts 
that come more directly from experiences. The proper 
feeding of the mind upon such knowledge influences 
will, so to put it, make the general mental structure 
solid, sound, aud powerful. By a wise selection, a 
proper amount of the various nourishing elements will 
be given ; the mental growth will be fully provided for ; 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 109 

each power of mind will have its proper nutriment ; 
and there will be no unnecessary waste of energy in 
receiving and assimilating the mental food. 

All knowledge subjects which are largely taught 
through the directed and controlled activity of the 
individual himself, in connection with physical objects, 
have a high disciplinary (nutritive) value. And it is 
from this point of view that what is known as physical 
and manual education is so valuable in its bearing on 
the intellectual life. 

But there is also the essential and all-important 
element of exercise, as such, in the discipline value of 
knowledge subjects. It has been insisted that exercise 
is the very foundation of development. It is a condition 
of life itself, for the stagnant decays and dies. Exercise 
not only develops power, but, if rightly organised, it 
teaches the most fruitful and easy methods of applying 
power. The gymnast learns exactly how and when to 
use his force so as to get the greatest effect with the 
least effort. Thus a small and not very strong but 
well-trained woman can, by carefully arranging and 
balancing the weight of four big men, and by properly 
applying her strength, lift them and the chair on which 
they are seated clear from the ground. Similarly, a 
well-trained mind can use its powers to the greatest 
advantage, and perform tasks which would otherwise 
be impossible. 

There is of course a good deal of exercise in the 
receiving and assimilating of nourishment, and, so far 
as the nourishment is carefully ordered, both as to its 
kind and the manner in which it is given, the exercise 



110 EDUCATION 

which accompanies it is of the highest value. It is, 
however, possible to arrange that exercise, as such, 
shall be the predominant element in mental activity. 
To do this, we must as far as possible leave out the 
more purely nutritive elements. This we are able to do 
in what are called the formal or abstract knowledge 
subjects, e.g., mathematics, grammar, logic. These 
subjects deal not with concrete things, but with the 
systems of symbols which we have invented to repi'e- 
sent them, and the processes which are possible with 
these. Thus the nutritive element of ordinary con- 
crete experience is at a minimum, whilst the activity 
of mind itself is at a maximum in dealing with such 
matters. By orderly and systematic courses of mental 
training in these subjects the power and skill of the 
mind are greatly increased. For example, if Euclid is 
intelligently and thoroughly tanght, the mind is likely to 
get a power and habit of carefully testing the coherence, 
consistency, and soundness of anything which is offered 
as demonstration or proof. This is the kind of discipline 
obtained from the deductive sciences. 

Physical science subjects are not only of high discip- 
linary value from the nutritive point of view, but also 
from the point of view of pure exercise. For in dealing 
with pure, as opposed to practical and applied science, 
we have for the most part to do chieliy with the 
rational elements of experience — with general truths 
and principles. The mind is constantly exercised in 
that which is for mind only — the meaning or inter- 
pretation of experiences. And the discipline thus 
obtained is particularly valuable, because it is in such 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 111 

work that the mind gains the power and habit of fully 
and accurately receiving and responding to stimuli, of 
judging relations rightly, and of making those uni- 
versal judgments about phenomena which, when pro- 
perly expressed, we call laws or principles. 

Any want of precision or completeness in rightly 
appreciating and interpreting the material dealt with 
leads to wrong general judgments, and the error is 
pretty certain to be shown up by later experience, 
especially if we pursue a course of action based upon 
the supposed accuracy of such general judgments. 
If, for example, a person interpreted his observations of 
a large plain so as to form the judgment that as a 
whole it was perfectly level, and proceeded to make a 
canal across it strictly according to this judgment, he 
would find that his ideas were in conflict with facts ; 
for, owing to the real nature of the earth's surface 
engineers have to allow about eight inches per mile for 
the natural curvature of the land. 

The consequences of such results are : observations 
and judgments are made with great care and caution : 
experiments are repeated : judgments are thoroughly 
tested : a severely critical method of thought is culti- 
vated : and universal judgments are accepted only 
after searching and repeated trials. So mind acquires 
a power and habit of self-criticism. This is the dis- 
cipline of the inductive sciences. 

It is interesting and instructive to compare these 
ideas on the regulated nutrition and exercise of the 
mind with the facts of bodily life during infancy. In 
the first year or so of physical life the infant does little 



112 EDUCATION 

more than eat and take exercise, and it is according to 
how wisely and thoroughly these are regulated by those 
who have charge of the child, that the health, vigour, 
and development of the body are secured. 

Culture Value. — While it is of great moment thus to 
provide for the development of the mind, as such, it is 
not less important that great care should be taken as 
to the general nature and character of the development 
which is brought about. We must attend to the content 
of the developed powers, or we may after all produce only 
a sharp and shrewd mental machine instead of a full, 
powerful, and great mind. Further, we want not only a 
full and deep mind, but one that is well balanced, 
whose powers show grace and beauty in process and 
product, and whose general nature and character are 
lofty and noble. We want to obtain the highest value 
of man, as man, from the purely educational stand- 
point, i.e., with regard to the most perfect development 
of his power? 

Now, the harmoniously developed and cultured mind 
is generally accepted as the highest form of mind. 
Hence we must make use of those knowledge subjects 
which thus fill the mind with a rich content because 
they have high culture value. It is a question of the 
civilised man as against the savage, and of the philo- 
sophical and practical man as against the purely 
practical one. 

Before we can decide as to which subjects possess a 
high degree of culture value, we must agree as to what 
is to be regarded as a cultured mind. We have already 
spoken of balance of mental powers, grace and beauty 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 113 

of mental processes and products, and high and noble 
qualities. To these we may add intellectual sympathy, 
in its broadest and deepest sense. By this we mean an 
appreciation of, desire for, pleasure in, and love of, all 
forms of truth, beauty, and goodness, wherever found. 
To put it in quite general terms, the most cultured 
mind is the mind which has all the highest products of 
the best mental cultivation in their most refined forms. 
It is the highest mental expression of humanity, and, 
therefore, will proceed mainly from the influences of 
those subjects which are more directly concerned with 
the human being as such. 

Subjects which have a high culture value will appeal 
to the whole mental nature. They will give an organic 
tone to the mind. The mind will, so to say, give forth 
the effects of a full, powerful, but well-modulated 
orchestra, as against the empty roll of a drum, or even 
the less full beauty of a well-played solo. And such 
results are most fully and easily brought about by those 
subjects which deal with the universal elements in 
human life. Subjects like geography, history, litera- 
ture, philosophy, music, and art, which contain records 
and expositions of the most important, refined, and 
spiritual results of human life, thought, and action, 
enrich and ennoble to a very large extent the mind 
which is sympathetically subjected to their influences. 

Utility Value. — Practical life is, after all, our chief 
concern, as all our knowledge is derived from it, and to 
it all the powers which knowledge gives are again 
directed. Life, indeed, consists in living, and all our 
efforts to further human development in the individual 

H 



114 EDUCATION 

and the race would be but lost labour, if it did not 
result in a fuller and richer living of our lives. 

In the first chapter we urged that the present con- 
ception of education has arisen from the necessities of 
modern life. It is for the life of a community that we 
are fitting the developing individual, and we may say 
that it is by the social life, through the means which it 
provides and the efforts which it makes — as in national 
systems of schools, &c. — that education is possible. 
The individual, so to speak, absorbs the social life by 
which he is surrounded ; he lives upon it, and has 
later on to live for it. A person is acted upon by 
society, but he also reacts upon it, and it depends 
upon the manner of his reaction whether it be to his 
advantage or disadvantage ; for if he acts in harmony 
with his social surroundings he will gain thereby, 
and if his actions conflict with them, he will suffer 
for it. 

Clearly, therefore, the general well-being, present 
and future, of the developing being depends upon the 
way in which each and all of his actions are related to 
his social surroundings. He has to endeavour to make 
himself a part of the social whole, and in doing so he 
will make the social whole more helpful to his own 
individuality. 

Although, as we have said, education, as such, has 
nothing whatever to do with the use which we make of 
our developed powers, yet it is of great importance to 
discover definite reasons, should such exist, for choosing 
between two or more knowledge subjects which appear 
to be equally good for purely educational purposes. If 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 115 

one subject is likely to prove more practically useful, arid 
also more interesting than the other, it should be chosen. 

For example, let us suppose that the educational 
values of the French language and the Chinese 
language are equal. Is there any reason for selecting 
the one rather than the other, when educating an 
English boy who is likely to spend his life as the 
ordinary Englishman does ? Surely there are a good 
many reasons for choosing the French language. The 
mode of thought expressed by it very closely resembles 
that of the learner ; the letters in which it is written 
are similar to those used in English ; many of the 
words very closely resemble each other in the two 
languages ; French literature is finer, more advanced, 
more extensive, &c, than the Chinese ; the nations 
have a good deal more intercourse ; and so on. 

Again, in physical education the powers of the hand 
could be developed by finger drill, exercises in grasping, 
&c. ; but it is decidedly more advantageous to get the 
same kinds of results through carefully arranged 
exercises in handling tools, playing the piano, &c. So 
also we shall judge with regard to applied science and 
pure science. If we can get all the educational results 
we desire from the applied science, then this is a strong 
reason why it should be chosen, rather than the pure 
science. 

The utility value of a subject is therefore a deciding 
element in cases of choice between subjects having 
nearly equal educational value. Other things being 
equal, or nearly so, we should always choose the subject 
which has the greater utility value. And not only so, 



116 EDUCATION 

but it is well to give all subjects some utility value by 
relating them to practical life, so far as this does not 
prejudice the progress of development. Fortunately, 
there is no real inconsistency between the two, and 
very seldom is there even a conflict between them. 
Those knowledge subjects which have the greatest 
educational values have generally also great practical 
value, and, therefore, very great interest. 

It is the utility value of subjects which has, for the 
most part, hitherto been considered in drawing up 
schemes of instruction for schools. Hence we have 
the " modern side," which is professional and com- 
mercial in its aim, in our public schools ; whilst even 
the " classical side " has utility value, since the fact of 
having done well in it is accepted as a qualification for 
teaching in such a school, and a knowledge of the 
classical languages is also regarded as necessary for 
must of the learned professions. 

There is no objection to — indeed there is every reason 
for — taking account of what the future life of the indi- 
vidual is going to be, especially towards the end of his 
course of education, so long as this consideration takes 
the secondary, and not the primary, position. If it 
takes the first place, then we are making schemes of 
useful instruction, and not a system of pure education ; 
and it was in this sense that we previously said that 
technical schools and colleges, professional training- 
institutions, &c, are not places of education, as such. 
It will be seen that the questions connected with the 
educational values of knowledge subjects are very 
closely connected with the correlation of subjects and 



GENERAL PHIXCIPLES 117 

also with the general development of the knowing 
powers of the mind. The elements which make up the 
values may be said to have special influence in develop- 
ing the individual. Discipline affects knowing most, 
culture influences feeling chiefly, and utility has, prob- 
ably, through interest, the greatest effect upon willing. 

The Principle of Repetition. — For knowledge to have 
real existence for the mind it must be a permanent 
possession, i.e., the results of knowledge-giving in- 
fluences must be firmly retained by the memory. 
Extraordinary experiences impress themselves deeply 
upon the mind by their unusual character or force. 
Ordinary experiences are best fixed in the memory by 
careful repetition, for such is the native capacity of 
mind for retaining the effects which are produced in it, 
that the mere recurrence of events serves to fix them in 
the memory. 

How necessary it is to get the memory to do its 
work thoroughly will be recognised when we reflect 
that every new experience owes much, if not most, of 
its meaning and value to the action of the knowledge 
gained from former experience. That is, the worth of 
a presentation depends largely upon the work of re- 
presentations, and the fulness and force of the re- 
presentations will be according to the faithfulness and 
freedom of the memory. Also, old thoughts and 
experiences must be constantly reproduced in conscious- 
ness if we are to obtain from them all the knowledge 
that is possible. Hence, education must point out the 
conditions which best secure the most extensive and 
accurate memory. 



118 EDUCATION 

Repetition acts upon the mind in two ways. It 
causes the details of the activities which are necessary 
for the response, or series of responses, to a given 
stimulus to become easy, certain, and more or less 
fixed ; so much so, that in some cases it is very difficult 
to prevent them from acting at the wrong time. Thus, 
if one has been much and frequently amused by a 
humorous parody of a serious poem, it is sometimes 
impossible to prevent the mind from re-presenting the 
parody even when the original is given with solemn 
surroundings. In other words, memory habits are 
formed. Again, repetition causes the mental results of 
such repeated activities to become more full, clear, 
fixed, and easily revivable. 

Just as an original impression is more or less firmly 
fixed in the memory according as it is more or less 
vivid, clear, forcible, and interesting ; so also will any 
repetition of the experience serve still further to 
mpress it upon the mind in proportion as it has one 

more of these qualities. Perhaps the most important 
point with regard to repetitions is the keeping up of 
the interest. If the same materials and method are 
always used, it will become increasingly difficult to 
impart interest and secure attention. Hence, novelty 
should be introduced in sufficient amount to give in- 
terest and obtain attention, without causing distraction 
from the real point of the experience. It must also 
be remembered that repetition itself, however varied 
the conditions, will become uninteresting if it be too 
frequent or too long-continued. 

Another valuable aid in securing good memory is to 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 119 

use every simple, direct, and helpful form of association 
that is possible, without being burdensome. The putting 
of the points to be remembered in a well-arranged 
visual or aural group, which answers to. a scientific 
sequence (where possible), will often be of great assist- 
ance — through association by contiguity. Also the 
matter in hand should be carefully explained and made 
clear to the intelligence, so that association by intel- 
lectual similarity may aid the memory. 

It must never be forgotten that memory is nob a 
kind of separate mental machinery into which it is 
possible to cram all sorts of odds and ends by mere 
dint of pushing. Clear understanding and thorough 
mental relation form the best and surest basis of exact 
remembrance. At the same time, there is the passive 
and mechanical side of memory, which must neither be 
neglected nor presumed upon. There must be a proper 
amount of exercise given according to a good system. 
Such a system will be based upon a proper correlation 
of our knowledge about classes and individuals. 

The principle of repetition is, perhaps, the most 
general, as it is certainly one of the most important 
and valuable of all educational principles. It should 
govern the application of all the other principles of 
education. All the higher forms of life, and all their 
higher functions, seem to depend very largely upon this 
principle. 

The Principle of Preparation. — Very little more need 
be said about the value of getting the mind ready for 
what is coming. To bring into consciousness the most 
appropriate re-presentations just before a particular 



120 EDUCATION 

presentation takes place, is to put the miud into a con- 
dition in which its highest powers of receptivity and 
responsiveness are active. 

The effects of good mental preparation would be well 
illustrated in the case of two persons attending a lecture 
in the middle of a course. If one of them has been to 
all the previous lectures, has clearly and completely 
grasped what has already been said, and has given 
some thought to its bearing on the lecture in question, 
whilst the other has done none of these things, and 
knows hardly anything about the subject, then the 
amount of knowledge which the former would be likely 
to obtain from the lecture would be many times as 
much as that which the latter would probably get. 

To have plenty of ideas on a subject is not of so 
much value as always to have them ready when wanted. 
How often do we think of the right thing to do when 
it is too late to do it ; of the witty or wise reply when 
it is too late to give it. We have been taken off our 
guard as we say, i.e., the mind was not prepared to 
bring all its resources to bear, because its attention was 
not pre-adjusted. 

Not less important is the securing of sufficient time 
for the mind to adjust itself for each item in a series of 
continuous experiences. This kind of preparation is 
likely to prevent many mistakes of assimilation and 
discrimination which might take place in a hurried, 
and, therefore, superficial and uncritical relating of the 
presented to the re-presented. Too often one finds 
that a hasty endeavour to acquire knowledge quickly 
has resulted in many errors and much confusion of 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 121 

thought, and that much time and effort are required to 
correct the mistakes made. 

In the young it is often necessary or expedient to 
establish, if possible, a favourable or unfavourable 
disposition towards a coming experience. This is espe- 
cially the case with regard to moral estimates of actions 
and individuals, and is also helpful in connection with 
scientific phenomena, &c, because of the overwhelming 
influence of feeling in the child's life. But such pre- 
paration needs to be used with very great judgment 
and caution, and in ever-decreasing amount. The onlv 
justification for such a course is, that we are fully con- 
vinced of the fitness of the pre-disposition, and that it 
is necessary thus to guide the mind which has not yet 
got the power to guide itself in right judgment. 

It should, however, always be the aim to secure, as 
far as we can, an unprejudiced attitude towards the 
expected experience. When the individual begins to 
think for himself, it is difficult to persuade him to allow 
for, or to exclude, preconceived notions about new 
experiences, and it is still harder for the adult to 
discount what is called the personal equation, i.e., the 
effects of his habits of thought : of his personal likings 
and dislikings : of his practical interest (if any) : of his 
general condition of mind and body at the moment, 
&c, in the forming of a judgment. 

So far as we are able thus to prepare the mind, by 
bringing into consciousness' all those ideas, and into 
activity all the powers, which are likely to make the 
presentation more readily, fully, and accurately inter- 
preted and assimilated ; and, further, exclude or lessen 



122 EDUCATION 

the effects of all the ideas and powers which hinder the 
reception, or prevent the estimate, of a presentation ; 
so far shall we obtain knowledge more swiftly, surely, 
and soundly. 

The Principle of Interest. — -Since self-activity is the 
basis of development, willing the source of self- activity, 
and interest the most powerful motive to willing, it is 
clear that the quantity and quality of development will 
largely depend upon the force and nature of the interests 
which affect the individual. 

We have said that individuals can, if they will, render 
themselves almost entirely unresponsive to feeling and 
knowing influences, in particular cases ; and they can 
remain more or less unaffected by them for considerable 
periods of time. Children who seem to care for no reward 
or punishment, and decline to receive nearly all kinds 
of knowledge are by no means unknown ; whilst those 
who exhibit these tendencies at certain times, and with 
regard to particular subjects, are far too common. It 
is, therefore, of the greatest importance that the active 
consent and co-operation of the individual who is being 
educated should be secured. 

Now it is a common and true saying, that what a 
person is interested in he will do his best work at. 
The thing to do, therefore, is to arouse, in the person 
being educated, interest with regard to the influences 
and phenomena which are educating him. The interest 
may be either in favour of or opposed to a certain thing. 
We may be interested in knowing or not knowing, 
having or not having, a certain experience or series of 
experiences, mental or physical. But directly we are 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 123 

interested, one way or the other, the attention is fixed, 
desire is excited, the mind acts, knowledge is gained 
or used, plans are in some cases formed, and, if neces- 
sary, physical action is taken. In short, interest secures 
purposive activity of mind, body, or both, towards some 
definite end — even if the activity be only that of re- 
straint. It is an unfailing stimulus to willing. 

It is this condition of active interest in educative 
presentations that it is most necessaiy to obtain. In 
proportion as this is strong, so is the educative effect 
great, and in so far as it is weak, the developing result 
is small. Every one recognises this in particular cases. 
Not a few of the most famous persons in the world's 
history were thought to be more than ordinarily 
stupid, until having had the chance of devoting 
themselves to a subject which had an absorbing 
interest for them, they soon developed powers which 
greatly surprised and benefited the race. Whilst not 
all have the genius which thus excels, yet wherever 
interest is present, there, at the least, the best 
energy is given to a subject, and, consequently, the 
greatest effects possible to the individual are likely to 
be produced. 

Herbart, the great psychologist and educationist, has 
treated this matter very fully, and points out that 
wherever interest is aroused it is accompanied by just 
those conditions of mind which make for development. 
Observation occurs, because the mind realises that 
there is an opportunity for gaining additional pleasure 
or profit, or for preventing some pain or loss. So long 
as this, the opportunity, remains unfulfilled, there is a 



124 EDUCATION 

condition of expectation. If there is further delay, and 
the mind gives most of its attention to the expected 
results, then there is a desire which passes into 
demand. And demand, whenever real, expresses itself 
in action. 

This series may occupy an appreciable, and even 
considerable, amount of time — it may be weeks or 
months in the case of a somewhat phlegmatic and very 
reflective adult — in its completion, or it may occur 
almost instantaneously. It is sometimes very clearly 
marked in the case of an infant, who first gazes at some 
object with a kind of curious and surprised look, then 
stretches out its hand and waits for its mother or nurse 
to give the thing to it, and if it does not receive it, 
then begins to struggle violently to get it. 

The great value of such a state of interest is, that it 
influences the individual as a whole, i.e., the self. For 
the time, the whole being is practically concerned with 
nothing except that which interests it. The one and 
only thing which it then longs for is to have or not to 
have that which has so entirely taken possession of its 
attention. All the energy of the self is given up to 
the endeavour to obtain the desired end. There is a 
conviction, more or less explicit, that unless the end is 
secured the self will suffer, either negatively (through 
loss of pleasure) or positively (through incurring pain). 
So that, if the end is gained, there is a feeling of self- 
realisation, that is, with regard to the experience, the 
self is what it ought to be. This is best illustrated, in 
its extreme form, in the cases of faddists, enthusiasts, 
religious devotees, &c. 



GENEKAL PRINCIPLES 125 

Two great classes of interest are noticed by Herbart, 
viz., those interests which are connected with know- 
ledge, and those which belong to sympathy. The 
former depend upon the fact that the mind appreciates 
and imitates in ideas the nature and laws of all that is 
not mind, and brings these ideas into such order and 
system as seem best to express the relations of the 
objects of the physical world. It also knows itself. 
The interests connected with sympathy arise from the 
fact that we can know of, and share in, the feelings 
which are experienced by the society in which we live, 
and also by the human race as a whole. 

He himself says : " The first kind of interest — that 
in the objective — is felt partly in the comprehension of 
objects, partly in the grasping of their independence 
according to law, partly in the approval which their 
harmony and adaptation to an end win from us. The 
second kind of interest — in the subjective — devotes 
itself partly to men as individual beings, partly to 
society, and partly to the relation of nature to humanity. 
In all these aspects the characteristic of this second 
kind of interest lies in the sympathy, in the concentra- 
tion on human feelings (whether personal or those of 
others). Quite foreign to this, on the contrary, is all 
mere observation, however interesting, of human 
beings ; this belongs to the first kind — the objective. 
Both kinds touch at their highest point and meet 
together in religion, for its object is providence." 
From the sympathetic interests come social, political, 
and religious ideals. 

The interests which belong to knowledge are three. 



126 EDUCATION 

Firstly, the empirical interest, or the interest which 
the individual has in experiences, as such ; in the 
changes, variety, novelty, &c, of the phenomena which 
surround and affect him ; in the details of these phe- 
nomena (including his own body) ; and in the action of 
himself and other objects. Secondly, the speculative 
interest, or the desire and effort to understand these 
empiricals, by trying to see in them order, relation, 
system, law, and unity. Thirdly, the assthetic interest, 
or the disposition to discover ideal values for our 
rational knowledge of things, in the form of beauty, 
harmony, goodness, design, truth, &c. 

The interests which are connected with sympathy 
are also three. Firstly, human interest, or that 
which we have in knowing ourselves as human beings. 
We want to know what it is that constitutes our own 
feelings of joy and sorrow, &c. Thus we come to know 
what are the expressions of human feelings in others, 
and, therefore, what is human. There is the desire to 
understand what is truest and highest in human nature, 
and this results in an effort of imitation. Thus may 
arise a sympathetic union with the whole human race. 
Secondly, the social interest, or the interest which 
the necessities of everyday life as members of a com- 
munity have for us. There are obligations of self- 
sacrifice, subordination, co-ordination, compromise, &c, 
which cannot be escaped if one's life is to be as comfort- 
able as may reasonably, and rightly, be desired. This 
is the practical side of human sympathy. Thirdly, the 
religious interest, or that which leads man to seek to 
know his own place in nature, and which leads him to 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 127 

recognise his position of dependence. Thus is caused a 
feeling of humility : of reverence for the higher and 
greater : of the infinite worth of things : of infinite pur- 
pose : and of infinite cause. 

Here, then, we have an analysis of the native springs 
to action, mental and physical, in a human being. It 
gives us a view of the opportunities and duties of the 
educator, and shows very clearly what kind of experi- 
ences and material must be provided. These are the 
ways in which the real self of the individual can be 
reached in the easiest, most complete, and most effective 
manner. 

These general interests are proper to human beings 
as such. They make up what we have termed original 
interests. A human being cannot help but have them 
in more or less completeness. Again, therefore, we see 
the necessity of many-sidedness of educative influences 
to satisfy this many-sidedness of interest. Knowledge 
subjects must be correlated so as best to harmonise 
with, and aid the development of, such mental character- 
istics. Here, also, is again shown the function of the 
educator — to present the whole world of mind and matter 
in miniature, so far as that is possible, to the growing 
mind. He is a selecting and stimulating agent. 

It is the general disposition or tendency to be thus 
interested which exists in every human being, and not 
a particular form of interest in a particular subject at a 
given time. The latter must be brought about by the 
art of the educator, and is a subject which is treated of 
in considering the methods of education. Both general 
and particular instances of interest depend upon the 



128 EDUCATION 

strength, variety, novelty, familiarity (if not excessive) 
of presentations, and also upon the general complex in 
which they occur. Thus a soldier in full uniform, who 
would attract no special attention in a regiment, would 
command particular notice in a small crowd of civilians. 

We must, therefore, take care that these qualities are 
present in the educating influences which we em- 
ploy. And not only should they be used, but they 
must be constantly and carefully selected and applied. 
Anything like a mechanical repetition of certain pre- 
scribed forms of them is not likely to be very helpful. 
Some modification or other will nearly always be neces- 
sary, and this must be a matter of thought and judg- 
ment. Nevertheless, there is a danger of having too 
great variety, which would distract the attention from 
the main points, and so prevent systematic assimilation. 

Interest is both a cause and an effect of knowledge. 
The original interests urge us on to acquire knowledge, 
and when we have obtained it, there is generally a desire 
to obtain more. This is well seen in the bright child 
whose education is conducted under free and kindly 
conditions. No sooner does it gain some slight inform- 
ation about an object, than it immediately follows up 
the matter with question after question as to the " why " 
of every detail, and soon exhausts the fund of know- 
ledge, or the power of simple expression, of the ordinary 
adult. 

Hence, if the disciplinary element in educational 
iufluences is well and wisely used, the mind is inter- 
ested in having purely mental exercise, as such, and 
finds delight in trying to work out simple, appropriate, 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 129 

and properly graded, intellectual problems, puzzles, 
conundrums, and catches. The keenness, excitement, 
and pleasure, which children show in well-managed 
exercises of this kind are evidences of their value. This 
is also true in the case of the culture elements. The 
dramatic and artistic reciting, or reading, of suitable 
pieces of classical literature : the showing and explain- 
ing of beautiful pictures : and the artistic rendering 
of the best music, all satisfy a native capacity for 
enjoyment, and create the demand for further experi- 
ences of a like kind. For example : a well-told tale of 
thrilling adventure in Africa often causes boys to 
eagerly read such books as the life of Livingstone. 

In the same way the fact that certain forms of 
knowledge have great practical utility gives them spe- 
cial interest. If the ordinary rules of arithmetic are used 
in connection with everyday transactions ; if manual 
exercises are illustrated through common household 
articles ; and if drawing is taught from suitable objects, 
there is likely to arise a desire to extend the knowledge 
and power thus obtained. 

Above all, where interests of these kinds are pro- 
duced, or exist, they both stimulate to action and 
reward the activity. A person who is thus really inter- 
ested in a course of action desires no further reward 
than the satisfaction of doing that which he keenly 
wished to do, or, at least, he can be content without 
more. Thus interest is an end in itself and is the most 
disinterested (in the material sense), satisfactory, com- 
plete, effective, and worthy end. It is, therefore, the 
chief aim of the educator to make interest an indispen- 

I 



130 EDUCATION 

sable and sufficient end of educational action. With such 
a stimulus it is easy to impart mental nourishment and 
discipline, indeed, it would be difficult to prevent them 
from being obtained, since the appetite and activities 
of the mind are in a state of vigorous aggressiveness. 

Interest is more particularly connected with the 
development of knowing ; but since it is generally 
based upon, and always connected with, the feelings, 
it has much to do in their development also. And 
inasmuch as it is almost invariably accompanied by 
willing, in a full and vigorous form, it does much to 
further its progress. 

Interest may be said to be a most effective, because 
pleasant and impressive, substitute for repetition. Dr. 
Sully remarks: "The permanence of an impression 
depends on the degree of interest excited by the object 
and the corresponding vigour of the act of attention. 
All strong feeling gives a special persistence to im- 
pressions, by arousing an exceptional degree of interest. 
Where a boy is deeply affected by pleasurable feeling, 
as in listening to an attractive story or in watching a 
cricket match, he remembers distinctly. Such intensity 
of feeling by securing a strong interest and a close 
attention, ensures a vivid impression and a clear dis- 
crimination of the object, both in its several parts or 
details, and as a whole. And the fineness of the dis- 
criminative process is one of the most determining con- 
ditions of retention." 

Dr. Bain says : " Any kind of knowledge .... 
that is obviously involved in any of the strong feelings 
or emotions .... is by that very fact interesting. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 131 

Now a great many kinds of knowledge are implicated 
with those various feelings. To avoid pains, and ob- 
tain pleasures, it is often necessary to know certain 
things, and we willingly apply our minds to learn those 

things A vast quantity of information respecting 

the world, and respecting human beings, is gained in 
this way ; and it constitutes an important basis of even 
the highest acquisitions." 

The elements of novelty and variety need special 
emphasis in the case of the young, though even with 
them there is the danger of excess. The educator 
must beware of the peep-show order of excitement, 
where so many things are seen in so short a time, that 
practically nothing is seen. 

Miss Edgeworth tells of some Esquimaux who were 
taken for a walk through the streets of London : 
" When their walk was ended, they appeared un- 
commonly melancholy and stupefied. As soon as they 
got home they sat down with their elbows upon their 
knees, arid hid their faces in their hands. The only 
words they could be brought to utter were, ' Too much 
smoke — too much noise — too much houses — too much 
men — too much everything ! ' " 

At the same time, monotony is never so monotonous 
as to the young. Whatever else the educator can 
afford to neglect, the arousing of interest must always 
be carefully provided for and earnestly striven after. 
We may truly say that the first and last condition of 
effective education is interest. It is the foundation and 
mainspring of successful effort on the part of the pupil. 
It is the educational philosopher's stone which turns 



132 EDUCATION 

everything into gold. Through the earnestness and 
devotion of teachers, and the interest excited thereby 
in their pupils, systems which are in themselves in- 
complete and largely unsound have been the means of 
producing the very highest and best educational results. 
Where interest is absent the most scientific and com- 
plete system of education will be likely to prove flat, 
stale, and unprofitable. 

Some of the most interesting elements in a subject 
are its pleasure-giving power, the occasion for self-activity, 
the sense of power which comes from successful work 
in it, the opportunity it offers of adding knowledge to 
what we already possess, the stimulating combination 
of the novel and familiar which it may involve, and 
the attractiveness and impressiveness of the points of 
beauty, strength, strangeness, greatness, complexity, 
unity, power, and so on, which may be present in it. 
Each and all of these should be realised, in their proper 
place and proportion, for educational purposes. 

The Principle of Habituation. — Inasmuch as habit can 
only be the result of complete and thorough mental 
adjustment to, response to, and grasp of, the details of 
certain operations, we may regard habits as the ex- 
pressions of the perfection of mental development in the 
matters which they involve ; for with regard to them 
mind does the very best that it can do, with the least 
possible effort. For this reason, they have very great 
educational significance. They point to what we may 
call practical mental perfection, and, therefore, are the 
best possible points of departure for higher develop- 
ments. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 133 

The educator regards habit as a kind of self-register- 
ing index of mental development. Whenever he has 
•reason to believe that educational discipline and 
nurture have resulted in the formation of a habit, he 
considers that he has completed the present work of 
development in that case, and only has to provide 
against any subsequent loss of power or skill. For the 
same reason he is always aiming at producing habits. 
Not, of course, in the sense of reducing everything to 
a definite and invariable form ; but in the sense of 
making materials and methods so familiar, and so 
subject to control, that they no longer present 
mechanical difficulties ; and, therefore, they leave the 
mind free for making those higher judgments which 
really express the true self, and show us to be any- 
thing but the slaves of habit. It is a good thing 
to definitely cultivate the habit of being superior to 
habits. 

Only when the mind has acquired accurate habits 
in dealing with materials and methods, in the above 
sense, can there be anything of much value in the way 
of power to solve new problems, complex cases, or real 
difficulties for oneself. Neither can there be much in 
the way of original discovery in the world of thought. 
Education cannot give the native power which is 
necessary for such work, but it can and does give the 
mind the best possible preparation for using it. It 
cannot make the material, bat it can make the 
material into the best and most powerful machine. 

Two of the most important ways of forming habits 
of thought are those of limitation and exclusion. By 



134 EDUCATION 

limitation is meant the keeping steadily in mind the 
particular kind of knowledge desired, and a special 
method of obtaining it, and then persistently pursuing 
the end and the means. But this must apply only to 
the making of some particular end a predominant, but 
by no means the sole, purpose of action for the time 
being. By exclusion, therefore, we meau the power to 
keep the mind from thinking about those matters 
which are opposed, or foreign, to a subject which we 
specially wish to keep in mind. 

Dr. Sully gives the following as the main conditions 
for the formation of a habit: — "A sufficient motive 
force brought to bear at the outset, in order to excite 

the requisite effort A prolonged repetition of 

the action in connection with the appropriate cir- 
cumstances An uninterrupted continuity of 

performance in like circumstances." 

Locke offers some wise advice on habit when he 
says: " Another thing you are to take care of, is, not 
to endeavour to settle too many habits at once, lest by 
variety you confound them, and so perfect none. 
When constant custom has made any one thing easy 
and natural to them, and they practise it without 
reflection, you may then go on to another." 

Thus if we wish to learn a living language for con- 
versational purposes, it would be a good plan to live 
amongst those who speak it, until we had gained some 
facility in its use. It would require very considerable 
effort to resist the temptation to use the mother tongue; 
but it is necessary to the greatest success of the 
endeavour that this should be done. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 135 

All that has been said about the principle of repe- 
tition applies to the principle of habituation. As was 
then pointed out, the result of appropriate repetition 
is the formation of a habit. Therefore all the con- 
ditions required to obtain a good memory habit are 
required for other mental habits ; indeed, we may say 
that all mental habits are but memory habits with 
varying contents, for they consist in remembering 
certain thoughts, feelings, and actions, in definite 
orders and relations. The principle of pleasure also 
applies, for it is much easier to form a habit under 
pleasant than under unpleasant conditions. The 
former further, but the latter obstruct, the establish- 
ing of those conditions which make habits. 

A good illustration of the growth of a habit, and of 
its value as an economising agent in our mental life, 
is found in the case of the use of the limbs in walk- 
ing. Walking requires very considerable judgment in 
the co-ordinating of the actions of a great many 
muscles, and also in the adjustment of the actual 
movements of the limbs. The latter is brought home 
to us with intensely disagreeable emphasis if we sup- 
pose that we are walking on level ground, when, as a 
matter of fact, there is a sudden fall of the ground in 
the limits of the stride. The very severe and general 
shock felt is due to the want of proper adjustment. 
When the child first tries to walk, the whole of its 
little body labours heavily, and the great concentra- 
tion and effort of thought is shown by the set face 
and steadfast gaze. Each leg is lifted very slowly 
and with great care and consideration, and is advanced 



136 EDUCATION 

and set down again with equal deliberateness. It 
hails the successful issue of a short journey with 
excited expressions of joy and relief. 

Later on the actions become so entirely a matter 
of habit, that if one stopped to consider how each 
detail in the process was performed, he would pro- 
bably be unable to carry it out without stumbling a 
good deal. It is only when recovering from an acci- 
dent to, or during a disease of, one of the limbs, or in 
walking in a strange room in the dark, that the details 
of movement become again explicit. Thus what at 
first engaged the whole of the power of attention, 
finally requires practically no attention at all; so that 
whilst walking from one place to another through 
various streets and turnings, one usually gives his 
attention to all kinds of subjects other than that of his 
own walking. 

But it is interesting, and most important, to notice 
that if a person desires to adopt a new style of loco- 
motion such as dancing, then all the conditions of 
laboured details and slow conquest, which may finally 
result in the ease of habit, have to be gone through. 
And even the delights of success in the efforts are not 
usually wanting. So like is the man to the child, and 
the child to the man — with a difference of power and 
progress all in favour of the man. 

The above illustration indicates the place and func- 
tion of habit in mental development, as well as in 
physical, and, therefore, its educational value. It has 
been said that to educate a child is to lead it to 
acquire good habits. So long as this is understood 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 137 

to mean that each habit is to be regarded as a com- 
pleted item of development, which is to be the step- 
ping-stone to higher development, there is much truth 
in the expression. 

The principle of habituation applies to the develop- 
ment of feeling, knowing, and willing, though it has 
most to do with willing, in that it is chiefly realised 
through acts of will, and results in a more or less 
permanent form of automatic willing. 

The Principle of Self-activity. — It has been urged 
that the highest value of the individual is expressed 
by his character, and that his character is the result 
of his independence, or rather self-dependence, of 
judgment, and of actions based upon these judgments. 
Hence the educator should always endeavour to lead 
the individual to take action on his own behalf. This 
kind of action we speak of as spontaneity, initiation, 
and self-activity, in their higher meanings. 

This principle has been so generally recognised that 
a number of educational maxims have been invented 
to express it, e.g., educate a child so that it may be 
able to educate itself ; so govern the pupil that he may 
learn to govern himself ; so help the learner that he 
may become able to do without help ; show the scholar 
how to find out knowledge in such a way that he may 
be able to find out without being shown ; the duty of 
the teacher is to enable the student to do without him ; 
and, never do for a child what it can do for itself. 

From what has been stated with regard to the 
principles of interest and habit, it will be seen that 
they have a very important relation to self- activity. 



138 EDUCATION 

The former is, indeed, practically the only kind of 
stimulus which can secure a real and effective self- 
activity. For self-activity in its highest and truest 
sense, there must be clear and explicit judgment and 
willing. The individual must realise that there is 
something which is worth striving for, and must, of 
his own free will and with set purpose, make the 
necessary efforts. This is the only kind of activity 
which both expresses and realises the self. 

Habit is valuable to self-activity in that it affords 
a foundation and occasion for it. When an habitual 
action is going on under somewhat new conditions and 
surroundings, there is often the necessity for further 
judgments with respect to the modification of some 
detail, or details, so as to ensure the success of the 
action. As the self is largely determined by the 
habits of the individual, there will be every reason for 
it to take some interest in what is after all its own 
realisation. At the same time it must be recognised 
that habits generally do more to supplant self -activity 
than to stimulate it. But the higher habits express 
the self, for they are the most permanent elements 
of it, and have, as a rule, been formed by self- 
activity. 

Self-activity is the chief means of increasing the 
strength of the individual. Mere passive response 
does little in the way of invigorating the self. As in 
the physical life it is not being acted upon, but the 
vigorous acting on other things, which hardens and 
strengthens the bodily powers, so in the mental life it 
is self-activity, and not the mere fact of being acted 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 139 

upon by influences, which is most developing. Things 
which are learnt mechanically in early life are found 
to be amongst the subjects least thought of in later 
years. 

The very great value of self-activity in developing 
the highest powers of an individual is thus expressed 
by Kant: "All the natural endowments of mankind 
must be developed little by little, out of man himself, 
through his own efforts. 5 ' The practical importance is 
also urged by him in these words : " It is no help to a 
man that in his youth he has enjoyed an over-abun- 
dance of motherly tenderness, for later on he will have 
to meet all the more opposition from all sides, and 
constantly be receiving rebuffs as soon as he enters the 
business of the world." 

A strikingly suggestive illustration of the ill-effects 
which may arise through neglecting this principle of 
self-dependence is given by Professor L. C. Miall, 
in an article on " Helplessness and Handiness." He 
says : " The new boy at school ! I look back forty 
years, and see him standing in the midst of a crowd of 
noisv urchins, turned into the lavatory to wash for 
dinner. He was dressed, I rather think, in black, and 
I have a suspicion that his father was a clergyman, 
lately dead. I remember his pale face, his neat dress 
and hair, and his white hands. .... 

" The new boy, when he finds an unoccupied basin, 
goes timidly up to it, without taking off his coat, dips 
his fingers in, and wets his face. Then he stands still 
as if waiting for the maid to bring a towel. But there 
is no maid, and when he realises that his wet face and 



1 40 EDUCATION 

bands will not be dried for him lie bursts into tears. 
The poor mother who saw day after day that he was 
washed and brushed, and fondly hoped that she was 
giving him habits of tidiness — how little she realised 
that her boy of eight or nine would endure the misery 
of the helpless ! " 

What have been termed the pleasures of pursuit, the 
sense of power, and the delights of conquest, all belong 
to self-effort only. It is self-activity which expresses 
the investigative and speculative interests. Discoverers, 
inventors, and original thinkers, and doers of every sort, 
are those who unite great original, and highly deve- 
loped, powers of mind with intense and aggressive self- 
activity. So far, therefore, as we aim at producing the 
highest powers of mind, we must encourage and give 
every opportunity for the exercise of self-effort. 

It has been well said that the self is the man. We 
may add to this the assertion that the self is expressed 
in the general nature of the individual's willings. If 
this be so, it is clear that the highest aim of education 
is to develop the power of willing to its highest, fullest, 
most free, and most effective, form. The last three 
educational principles — viz., interest, habituation, and 
self-activity — are all concerned with this aim. 

Most thoughtful people would agree that the highest 
kind of willing is the power to will to know and realise 
the highest ideals of the good, the true, and the beauti- 
ful. To lead the pupil up to such a level should be 
the ideal always before the educator. Not, let us 
again urge, that he should necessarily try to develop 
the will through some particular religious creed or 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 141 

moral code : or through some exclusive view of a 
science : or by means of a special school of art. 
There are plenty of general principles, and points of 
detail, which are common to all special systems, and 
amply sufficient for the educator's purpose. Particular 
views on such points are matters for the individual's 
own judgment and conscience, as governing his own 
private ideals and conduct as a member of a com- 
munity. 

Of the conditions necessary to develop such self- 
activity, we have already said a good deal in treating of 
the principles of interest and habituation. We may 
add that, when some power and skill have been gained 
by the individual in a certain kind of knowledge and 
its use, a specially arranged opportunity for discovering 
— from the individual's standpoint, but of re-discovering 
from the racial point of view — should be offered to the 
individual, and his interest and curiosity aroused with 
regard to it. The special arrangement will consist in 
bringing truths or phenomena before him in such an 
order of simple logical progress that all his former 
experiences and knowledge which are connected with 
the present will be vividly aroused, and his observation 
and judgment led on so connectedly and inevitably 
that, under ordinary circumstances, he cannot fail to 
make new judgments. 

Hence the developing mind should be constantly 
required to repeat, without aid or guidance, processes 
which have been made more or less familiar. It should 
also have opportunities and inducements to work out 
special adaptations of its powers and knowledge. Easy 



142 EDUCATION 

and carefully arranged problems should be given, so 
that after there has been guidance in the method of 
discovery there may be something, however simple and 
slight, in the way of original discovery — from the in- 
dividual's standpoint. During the later period of deve- 
lopment it is even desirable, as Milton advised, that the 
youth should, have a knowledge of the science of educa- 
tion, and the art of teaching, so that he may the more 
readily and effectively co-operate with the educator, and 
also be able to educate himself. 

Self-activity is self-realisation, and no item of deve- 
lopment has really become a possession and part of the 
self, in the fullest sense, unless it is mainly the result of 
self-effort, and is also capable of producing further self- 
activity. This therefore is the test of a sound and 
successful development : that what is so developed is 
itself able to help in making still greater progress. The 
greatest success of the educating process is to make the 
individual realise, care for, and seek to further develop, 
his higher self. 

We have pointed out that willing proceeds from the 
automatic and instinctive to the self-initiated and re- 
flective. The influences used in developing it should 
therefore be firstly imperative, then indicative, and 
lastly suggestive in character. Imperative at first 
because the individual bas neither the knowledge nor 
power to choose for himelf, though his needs are very 
great and his person subject to the most serious dangers; 
but he is able to respond to influences and to benefit 
thereby. Later on, the influences should be chiefly 
indicative, and only occasionally imperative, because 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 143 

the physical and mental activities and powers are getting 
stronger and more skilful, and the powers of imitation 
great, and also because the more he does for himself the 
better it is for his further development. And, finally, 
the educating influences should be mainly suggestive so 
that self-dependence and self-activity may be developed 
to the greatest possible extent. 

By imperative influences we mean influences applied 
with such intensity and directness, and under such 
conditions, that they practically force their effects upon 
the individual. The educator would use his authority 
as such an influence, and would say : " You must do 
so-and-so," " You must call this such-and-such," " You 
will see a blue colour," " This feels rough," &c. Of 
course all these influences are to be used wisely, and 
without any suggestion of harshness — -which the name 
might seem to imply. The influences of cold, heat, wind, 
water, and solids, when these act upon the body, are 
imperative in causing certain of their qualities to be 
known. 

Indicative influences are such as most readily and 
fully give the material for supplying what is needed to 
develop knowledge and power. Thus, if the educator 
is seeking to develop knowing through the acquire- 
ment of knowledge about a came] and the adaptation of 
its body to its surroundings, he will get a good picture 
of a camel in its native country, and a series of separate 
and enlarged pictures, if necessary, of the details which 
he wishes to be noticed. These he will introduce to the 
learner in a well-arranged order, and draw from him, 
by appealing to his observation, previous knowledge, 



144 EDUCATION 

and judgment, as much as possible of what lie desires 
should be known. Thus the influences are mainly in- 
dicative in their character. Some things will have to 
be told, but these should be as few as thought and 
ingenuity can possibly make them. 

Those influences are suggestive which excite the 
curiosity, arouse the interest, or direct the energy of 
the individual to a certain matter, and then leave him 
as nearly as possible to his own resources, both in the 
providing of the necessary material and in finding out how 
to use it so as to secure the desired end. For example, 
if a boy saw a toy-boat for the first time and was so 
interested in the sailing of it that he very much 
desired to own one, he would almost certainly set 
about making one for himself, if he had learnt how 
to use the necessary tools and could obtain the material 
required. Again, if such a lad was very curious about 
the working of a simple piece of apparatus, he would 
probably find out what he wished to know if he were 
allowed to experiment with it. Similarly, if he were 
asked to make for himself, from a model, a piece of 
simple apparatus to illustrate the morrow's lesson, he 
would be likely to find out for himself a way of 
doing it. 

It will be allowed that knowledge so gained is likely 
to have a much more powerful and lasting effect upon 
the developing individual than that which comes to 
him from being, so to put it, fed with a spoon. He 
will learn many things in the way of observation and 
judgment on his own actions, &c, which it is impossible 
for him to learn otherwise, and he will gain more 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 145 

power and skill than in any other way. He puts the 
whole of his little self into the business, and he comes 
out of it with a stronger and a bigger, because with a 
successfully realised ideal, self. 

By " a successfully realised ideal self" is meant that 
a new form of the self, which was previously looked 
upon as a desirable improvement upon the then con- 
dition of the self, is brought about. Thus a man may 
say, "My ideal of success is to write a novel which 
shall cause a sensation in the literary world ; " and he 
may manage to write it. An ideal, in this more 
practical sense, is what one would wish to have, do, 
or be, in the more or less immediate future. 

Character and individuality are themselves develop- 
ing" complexes, and hence comes the essential import- 
ance of the developing of self-activity, which means self- 
dependence, self-respect, self-responsibility, and the 
power of self-culture. 

The principle of self-activity, like that of habitua- 
tion, applies more particularly to will, but, for the most 
part, to will as concerned in knowing ; and therefore 
it has most to do with the developing of these two 
sides of the mental life. It has also to do with 
feeling, in that we can, as we say, throw ourselves 
heartily into the excitement of the moment, and so 
cause the mind to revel in a form of feeling; and, 
on the other hand, we can by an effort of will remain 
almost impassive to what would ordinarily exercise 
considerable influence upon our feelings. 

The Inter-relation of the Principles. — It should be 
carefully noted, as being entirely in harmony with 

K 



146 EDUCATION 

what we may call the central truth of our view of 
education — viz., that it seeks to know what are the 
principles and conditions which best develop mind 
according to its own proper nature, in view of its 
greatest possibilities — that the educational principles 
which we have now set forth are all, like the powers of 
mind itself, inter-related and inter-dependent. 

The principles of stimulation and nourishment are 
the first and last conditions of influence upon develop- 
ment. Without them nothing of permanent value can 
be done. The principle of pleasure is the great 
lubricating, friction-reducing condition, and should be 
realised in every one of the other principles. It is a 
general law in this sense. The principle of repetition 
is the great organising, perpetuating, strengthening,' and 
perfecting agency. It also is a law which should be ap- 
plied to every other law in education. Repetition fails 
to be effective if pleasure does not accompany it, and 
pleasures become fuller and richer when wisely repeated. 

Of the principle of inter-relation and inter-depend- 
ence nothing more need be said in this connection, 
since it both directly expresses and reflects, and seeks 
to realise, the nature of mind in the conditions of the 
developing influences. The principle of interest is 
the highest and most definite form of the general 
principle of stimulation. Interest is the great motive 
power of the activities which produce all the higher 
forms of development. The principle of habituation 
follows from the principle of repetition. It is the 
principle which leads to the greatest effectiveness and 
economy of menial power. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 147 

The principle of self-activity is the highest and most 
fruitful outcome of all the others. When self-activity 
appears it can regulate, reinforce, and realise — -to a 
greater or lesser degree — all the developing conditions. 
The development of a satisfactory form of self-activity 
is the completion of the purely educative processes, for 
then instruction as to the practical application of 
knowledge and power to the affairs of life may begin. 

From another point of view, the inter-relation be- 
comes even more emphasised. The principle of pleasure 
has chiefly to do with the sensuous feelings, but also 
with the intellectual ; the principle of interest is based 
upon feeling and knowing, and principally affects will- 
ing ; the principles of inter-relation, preparation, and 
repetition have most to do with knowing, but also 
largely influence willing; whilst the principles of stimu- 
lation, nourishment, and self-activity, affect the whole 
mind generally. Thus it appears that the principles 
involved all, more or less, influence those mind elements 
of feeling, knowing, and willing, which constitute the 
mental unity. It follows, therefore, that the principles 
themselves must be inter- dependent and united. 

Some General Remarks. — Let us, here, and constantly, 
remind ourselves that educational principles besides 
being based upon psychological truths which have been 
arrived at by observation, experiment, and reflection, 
have also themselves been more or less fully discovered, 
in their empirical or experiential form, by observation, 
experiment, and reflection upon the developing being 
whilst under the influences of educating processes. 
The fullest possible evidence of the entirely practical 



1 48 EDUCATION 

element of proof, as to the soundness of the principles, 
is found in the history of education, and in the actual 
systems and methods at present used in our schools. 

A most essential point for the young student to insist 
upon is that botli the psychological basis, and the prac- 
tical soundness, of the principles ought to be more or 
less fully demonstrable, and demonstrated, from the 
concrete point of view. In other words, the intelligent 
learner ought to be able, under proper guidance and 
after reasonable endeavour, to recognise the mind 
elements and their activities in his own mental life, and 
the signs of their workings in the case of others ; also, 
he should be able to observe the application, and esti- 
mate the effect, of the principles, as used in the actual 
education of the young. 

Not only ought he to be able to recognise the elements 
of the principles and their activities as involved in the 
work of those who are educating and being educated, 
but, to apply the principle of self-activity to his own 
case, he should learn how to exemplify them in educa- 
tional method, and realise them in educational prac- 
tice. In other words, he must regard as part of 
the proper study of education the observation and 
analysis of the work of a skilled educator, and the 
endeavour to imitate and originate similar work of his 
own. That is to say, what are called model-lessons and 
criticism-lessons are the laboratory work, and an in- 
dispensable part, of the study of education. 

No better advice could be given to young students of 
education than to take " a child, and set him in the 
midst of them." With the guidance which the experi- 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 149 

ence and knowledge of others can give them, they may 
hope, through a study of children, to obtain a really 
scientific grasp of educational principles, but not other- 
wise. 

Two cautions may be useful to the beginner in helping 
him to avoid some misconceptions. Firstly, he should 
be very careful not to attempt to carry further than the 
immediate context demands anything which is given for 
the purpose of illustrating the general argument. He 
must remember that every example limps, as the proverb 
says ; and it is, therefore, especially dangerous for a 
beginner to press an illustration. Later on he may be 
able to extend or amend it. Secondly, whenever we 
speak of " fundamental elements," we mean those which 
are ultimate from the point of view of empirical science. 
Whatever philosophy or metaphysics — the transcen- 
dental sciences — may have to say further is another 
matter. 

With respect to illustrations it must be remembered 
that they are not proofs. The justifying evidence of a 
truth, or principle, must be found in the facts of the 
case, or they are not likely to be provided in an illus- 
trative example. 

Another word of warning may be given to those who 
take up the study of the science of education after a 
considerable amount of practical experience in teaching. 
Such are very often inclined to say : " This may be all 
very well in theory, but it will not hold in practice." 
Now, true science is, and can be, nothing more than the 
fullest expression of our deepest knowledge of things. 
Such a remark as the above, therefore, implies that the 



150 EDUCATION 

theory is false; for, if it be true, it must hold in prac- 
tice, since this is the final and conclusive test of its 
validity. 

If the objector still persists that he has found that 
such-and-such a principle does not hold in practice, or 
that its very opposite does, then either the principle is 
false, or he has misunderstood the facts to which he 
appeals. Thus a result which he attributes to a certain 
condition of things may really have been produced in 
spite of it, through his own, or the pupil's, earnestness, 
perseverance, and power. 

That the principles do, as a matter of fact, hold in 
practice is shown by the methods and maxims of the 
greatest teachers. These have arrived at the same con- 
elusions, in a more or less implicit form, from the prac- 
tical necessities and accidental successes of intelligent 
work, that the scientist has from a rational investigation 
of the phenomena which they have had to deal with. 

Erasmus (1467— 1536), whose writings are based on 
practical experience as a teacher, says : "We learn with 
great willingness from those we love ; there are children 
who would be killed sooner than made better by blows : 
by mildness and kind admonitions, one may make of 
them whatever he will. Drill in reading and writing is 
a little bit tiresome, and the teacher will ingeniously 
palliate the tedium by the artifice of an attractive 
method; the ancients moulded toothsome dainties into 
the forms of letters, and thus, as it were, made children 
swallow the alphabet." All these maxims are based on 
the principle of pleasure. 

The same writer says : " As the body in infant years 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 151 

is nourished by little portions distributed at intervals, 
so should the mind of the child be nurtured by items of 
knowledge, adapted to its weakness, and distributed 
little by little " (Oompayre, " History of Pedagogy "). 
Here we have the principle of nourishment stated, and 
that of stimulation implied. 

Ratke's (i 571-1635) great rule was : " In everything 
we should follow the order of nature. There is a certain 
natural sequence along which the human intelligence 
moves in acquiring knowledge. This sequence must be 
studied, and instruction must be based on the know- 
ledge of it " (Quick, " Educational Reformers "). Thus 
the essentially practical man clearly indicates the 
principle of inter-relation and inter-dependence. 

" Repetitio mater studiorum," said the Jesuits, who 
had probably the most perfect practical system of 
teaching of the sixteenth century. . Oomenius (1592— 
1671), himself a man of wide experience as a teacher, 
says : " Repetitio memorise pater et mater est." Again 
and again we find the great teachers insisting upon the 
principle of repetition. 

Quaint old Roger Ascham (15 15-1602), when speak- 
ing of the order of teaching which the master should 
pursue in the case of the epistles of Cicero, says : 
" First, let him teach the childe, cheerfullie and plainlie, 
the cause and matter of the letter ; then, let him con- 
strue it into English, so oft, as the childe male easilie 
carrie awaie the understanding of it." So he points out 
the need of observing the principle of preparation. 

Quintillian (35-95 a.d.) says: "The desire of learn- 
ing depends upon the will, which you are not able to 



152 EDUCATION 

compel." In other words, the only influence which 
affects the will, and so causes the mind to receive and 
retain, is a sufficient motive in the individual. So the 
principle of interest is thus early stated. 

" What you think necessary for them to do, settle in 
them by an indispensable practice, as often as the occa- 
sion returns ; and, if it be possible, make occasions. 
This will beget habits in them which, being once esta- 
blished, operate of themselves easily and naturally, 
without the assistance of memory." Thus Locke, the 
great philosopher, who was also a practical teacher, 
indicates the value of the principle of habituation. 

Not to omit the moderns, we may quote Dr. Fitch, 
who urges that " some of the best work of our own lives 

has taken the form of self tuition Consider, too, 

how precious and abiding knowledge won by our own 
efforts always is." Dr. Abbott says : " We remember 
best .... those things which (1) present themselves 
to us from the first in the most interesting or incisive 
form, or (2) are impressed by constant repetition." He 
also advises that, " Before beginning to teach any sub- 
ject, the teacher should endeavour to excite the pupil's 
interest by conversations and stories illustrating the 
utility of it." Canon Daniel insists that "Pleasure 
accompanies the appropriate exercise of every faculty 

we possess The art of the teacher is to find out 

appropriate exercises." 

Examples of this kind might be easily multiplied, 
but sufficient have been given to show that experience 
both leads to and reflects true theory. The value of a 
study of the history of education is also shown. 



CHAPTEE IV 

THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MENTAL 
DEVELOPMENT 

The fact of the separate stages of growth and develop- 
ment in the human being is very clearly and definitely 
recognised in common language. When we speak of 
babyhood, childhood, youth, and manhood, or woman- 
hood, we are marking off the characteristic stages 
through which the mental and bodily powers pass. 
There is also a very general agreement as to some of 
the chief qualities which distinguish these from each 
other in the ordinary individual. It is as usual as it 
is true to speak of the helplessness, innocence, guile- 
lessness, and dependence of the baby ; the trustfulness, 
artlessness, inquisitiveness, plasticity, volatility, and 
receptiveness of the child ; and the vigour, rashness, 
impetuosity, self-assurance, and obstinacy of youth. 
In the man or woman these qualities are regarded as 
modified and under the control of an informed and 
capable judgment, Which is taken as the dominating 
factor in adult life. 

Not only are these stages of development recognised 
as thus broadly marked off from each other, but their 
dependence and continuity is insisted on in such pro- 



154 EDUCATION 

verbial sayings as : " the child is father of the man, " 
" as the twig is bent the tree 's inclined, " " train up a 
child in the way he should go, and when he is old he 
will not depart from it. " 

Such facts are of the very greatest interest and value 
to the educationist, for it is this development which he 
desires to know the nature and laws of. We must, 
therefore, try to understand the matter from a strictly 
scientific point of view. This again brings us to 
psychology as a basis of educational principles. 

Since we hold that the mind as a whole can be con- 
sidered to have three great elements, viz., feeling, 
knowing, and willing, what we want now to know is 
whether these develop in any definite and distinct 
manner, and, if so, how they develop. 

Observation has shown that there is an obvious and 
well defined line of mental development, both as to the 
mind as a whole, and with regard to the three mind- 
elements. We have already pointed out that though 
the three great mental elements are always present in 
every act of consciousness, yet they are present in 
unequal degrees, as a rule. Sometimes one element 
strongly predominates, sometimes another. It is in 
these two senses that we speak of an order of mental 
development, viz. , in the sense that, at certain periods 
in the life of the individual the general character of 
the mind varies, and also that one of the elements 
develops at a greater rate, i. c, more extensively and 
intensely than the others. It is always true that the 
general and special features are all developing. 

One point should be carefully noticed. Although it 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 155 

is impossible to say at what particular point of time 
one kind of development actually does, or is likely to, 
begin, yet we are justified in saying that, as a rule, a 
certain kind of development will take place about the 
period within certain years of the ordinary individual's 
life. Just as in the bodily growth there is a period 
when the individual is only able to receive and assimi- 
late the nourishment which is prepared for, and ad- 
ministered to, it ; then a period in which it is able to 
do something towards preparing its own food, and to 
entirely manage the feeding operations ; and finally the 
time when it is able to provide as well as prepare and 
consume its food : so in the mental life there is pro- 
gress from dependence to independence. 

It is generally agreed that the three chief stages of 
mental development may, broadly speaking, be re- 
garded as taking place within successive periods of 
seven years, viz. , from birth to the seventh year, from 
the seventh to the fourteenth year, and from the four- 
teenth to the twenty-first year. But this view of the 
matter must be regarded with considerable caution, 
and only accepted as a more or less trustworthy 
account of the probable development, under ordinarily 
favourable conditions, of an individual with the average 
amount of mental and physical vigour and capacity. 

The original powers and peculiarities with which 
a person begins life, the influences which affect him, 
and the conditions by which he is surrounded, are so 
various and so changing that very numerous and con- 
siderable differences in the detail of development are 
inevitable. At the same time the great general char- 



156 EDUCATION - 

acteristics of the human nature and order of develop- 
ment in all individuals will closely resemble each other. 
Were this not so, any idea of human beings as a class, 
or scientific knowledge of their nature and laws as a 
race, would be impossible. A separate science for each 
individual would have to be made.- 

The General Nature of Mental Development. — As we 
have already suggested there is first the period of 
almost pure receptivity and reproduction, when the 
mind simply receives and takes account of, in a more or 
less vague or definite manner, the influences which act 
upon it, and thus nourishes, strengthens, and, to a 
limited extent, develops itself. This stage may be 
called the vegetative stage. 

Then follows the stage in which the mental powers 
begin to take definite shape and form, and the mind 
appears as an active agent in the general complex of 
which it is a part. From being an almost wholly pas- 
sive object, it becomes an active influence in the world 
of things. But this only in a direct and concrete way, 
for there are as yet none of the more subtle, profound, 
and powerful activities of the higher reason. Mind 
has, so to speak, learnt to run alone. It is now an ex- 
ploring as well as a receiving organ, and it receives in a 
much more extensive and appreciative way. It learns 
to know, in a direct and practical sense, the various 
objects by which it is surrounded. We may call this 
the stage of practical knowing. 

When practical knowledge has reached to a some- 
what considerable degree of fulness and precision, then 
the mind begins to study itself, through reflecting upon 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 157 

its ideas and experiences, and thus obtains a still higher 
kind of knowledge. We esteem it an advance in know- 
ledge when we distinguish between our thoughts of 
things and the things themselves, and afterwards get 
to know about our thoughts in a similar manner to that 
in which we know about other objects. It is thus that 
science and philosophy come into existence. This may 
be called the stage of rational knowing. 

The difference between practical knowing and rational 
knowing is well illustrated by the difference between 
the knowledge which the artisan has, who deals with 
materials according to traditional methods and rule-of- 
thumb reasons, and the knowledge which the scientist 
has, who is guided by the nature of the material with 
which he is dealing, and the general laws which are 
true of such thiugs. 

These three stages of general, mental development 
roughly correspond to the periods of babyhood, child- 
hood (including youth), and manhood. They are as 
true of the race as of the individual. There is the 
primitive savage who is almost purely animal in his 
mode of life, and is in the vegetative stage ; then there 
is the semi-civilised man, who has developed the 
domestic arts and manufactures to a very considerable 
extent, and has an extensive store of practical know- 
ledge; and, finally, we have the civilised man, who has 
developed the sciences and philosophies. Of course 
these stages more or less overlap, but they are definitely 
marked off from each other in a broad and general 
sense. 

Plato, long ago, drew attention to this general 



158 EDUCATION 

movement from the more purely sensuous to the more 
purely rational. He writes thus : " The soul .... 
is at first without intelligence ; but when the flood of 
growth and nutriment abates, and the courses of the 
soul, calming down, go their own way, and become 
steadier as time goes on, then the several circles return 

to the natural form and make the possessor of 

them to become a rational being " (Dr. Jowett's trans- 
lation). 

Not only does the above apply to the whole life of the 
individual and the race, but it also applies to each dis- 
tinct line of development in the race and the individual. 
For example, in language the race doubtless began by 
imitating natural sounds and motions, thus making a 
gesture language consisting of sounds and motions. 
Thus the sounds " quack, quack," and the motion of 
the arms like the moving of wings, would mean a fly- 
ing duck. This is the purely receptive and reproductive 
stage. Then followed the period in which the practical 
use of language is largely developed, and in which a 
written language — at first largely pictorial — was pro- 
duced. And finally there came the stage when men 
investigated the origin, nature, and laws of language, 
as such, and thus arrived at a science and philosophy of 
language. 

Similarly the individual at first simply imitates the 
words and sentences which are taught to him. Later 
on he is able to use language freely, and to invent his 
own combinations for practical purposes. And not till 
after this is he well prepared for the study of the 
grammar and philology of a language. 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 159 

It is important to bear in mind that these stages 
grow unto each other by a gradual increase in the 
proportion of the new element and a corresponding 
proportionate decrease — there is an actual increase — of 
the dominance of the previously predominant element. 
Thus, if we take the first seven years of the individual's 
life as covering the first stage, then during the sixth 
and seventh year the more purely receptive and repro- 
ductive elements are rapidly becoming subordinate, 
whilst practical mastery and knowledge are rapidly 
becoming predominant. This kind of movement is 
always true of stages of development, and unless it 
is fully recognised serious misconceptions may arise. 

There are what we may term the individual elements 
of general development. The totals which make up the 
great stages of mental progress are themselves com- 
posed of individual items of development. In the case 
of each separate power of mind there is a more pr less 
constant and steady increase of its extent and strength : 
of the ease, quickness, accuracy and completeness with 
which it acts : and of its ability to do more difficult, 
complex, and profound work. That which is at first 
slow and laborious, becomes rapid and easy, and later 
on is done with great skill and finish. When indi- 
vidual powers have so developed they are likely to 
become habitual. If they do they will require the 
minimum of attention and effort, and will thus set free 
energy and skill with which further progress may be 
made. 

We will now consider in detail each of the three 
great stages in the development of the mind-elements. 



160 EDUCATION 

For reasons which will appear in the discussions we 
shall take the view that feeling is the first to pre- 
dominantly develop, then knowing, and lastly willing. 
It will be taken for granted that sound and vigorous 
individuals under favourable conditions are always 
referred to. 

The Development of Feeling. — If it be true that the 
early part of the life of an individual is chiefly taken 
up with nutrition and mere growth, then it is clear 
that its knowing activities will be mainly directed to 
distinguishing the different pleasurable and painful 
effects of its experiences. This will, at first, only apply 
to the elements of pure feeling, for at the very begin- 
ning it has nothing to help it to form even very im- 
plicitly concrete judgments about anything else. The 
baby only knows whether its feelings are pleasant or 
otherwise, and gives immediate expression to this by 
its cryings or croonings. 

Perhaps it would be better to say that the baby 
practically realises that it feels — although this is not a 
very happy description — rather than that it knows what 
it feels. The whole matter is briefly but probably fully 
expressed from the baby's point of view by simply say- 
ing that its mental life consists chiefly of feelings. 

Early infancy is almost wholly taken up with the 
activity and development of the senses. The child 
realises, to a limited extent, the pleasure-giving powers 
of its senses, and uses them to an almost uu limited 
extent. Its restless activity whilst awake is an evi- 
dence of its receptive eagerness. Its habit of carrying 
everything to its mouth and trying to eat it, is doubt- 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 161 

less due to its desire for the pleasures of taste, which 
is the sense whereby it gets most of its very earliest 
experiences. 

This period of receptivity is of the utmost import- 
ance for the future life, for now the individual is 
receiving those elements of experience upon which all 
later developments are largely dependent. To illus- 
trate this by an extreme example : it is not difficult to 
realise that if a healthy child were invariably kept in 
darkness or intense light during the first three years of 
its life, this would have a very serious if not fatal effect 
upon the eye, and through it upon the general mental 
and physical development. The same truth will hold 
in other matters and degrees. With regard to this 
point Dr. Hoffding speaks of " the predominating im- 
portance of the vegetative life." 

It is not the case that very great •refinement is neces- 
sary in the conditions of life during this period, but 
very great care should be taken to prevent excess or 
defect in the influences which affect the child. Also it 
is important that all the most valuable kinds of in- 
fluences should systematically affect it. Each of the 
senses should be methodically exercised. This will 
only require a little care and judgment in arranging the 
surroundings and playthings of the child. 

The infant is all action and growth, and its feeling 
and senses are peculiarly acute, intense, and suscept- 
ible. As Dr. Hoffding remarks : " Where adults merely 
tremble, children fall into convulsions." Hence the child 
is either all tears or all smiles ; it is generally either 
crying or laughing. There is in early childhood a very 

L 



162 EDUCATION 

rapid and proportionally great growth of body and 
mind, and it is this which demands that the life shall 
be predominantly vegetative and full of feeling. The 
child that is defective in vital energy is languid and 
dull, and consequently slow in its growth. The vegeta- 
tive element must, therefore, be recognised, stimulated, 
nourished, and carefully exercised. 

Feeling is of course, during this early period con- 
nected almost wholly with sensations. In other words 
it is the sensuous feelings which are predominantly 
developed. The intellectual or sesthetic feelings are 
only developed to a very limited extent. 

All the experiences are, for the most part, direct and 
concrete at this period of life. There is comparatively 
little of that reflective activity of consciousness which 
examines its own experiences and finds more in them 
than is given by the immediate response of the mind. 
It is a time when sensations are the chief element in 
life, and when the mind is most occupied with taking- 
account of them. 

These feelings are doubtless, at first, very vague and 
indefinite, but they soon become more or less sharply 
marked off from each other. The first experiences of 
the different feelings are probably somewhat similar in 
their effect upon the mind to that of a blaze of light 
upon the ey^s. There is a general disturbance, and a 
keen sense of feeling, but very little else. Later on 
there would come some notion of the difference between 
one kind of feeling and another, and some idea of con- 
necting different feelings with different conditions of 
the surroundings. Thus feelings would be classified, 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 163 

in an elementary way, and in so far as they were asso- 
ciated, however mistakenly, with objects, the objects 
would also be more or less classified. 

In the earliest years of the child's life, its intense 
susceptibility to feeling is such that its experiences 
produce emotions and passions rather than feelings 
proper. This is specially shown in the case of spoilt 
children who sometimes scream themselves into con- 
vulsions if they do not get exactly what they wish. 
Children, as a rule, perform most of their actions with 
great vigour and intensity, and often with excessive 
energy. Doubtless this is due to the ease with which 
their feelings are excited to a high state of tension. 

Bright colours, loud noises, and rapid movements, all 
seem to greatly delight the young child. Only con- 
stant change and variety are able to satisfy its restless 
activity and its practically unlimited appetite for sense 
experiences. It is by no means nice or delicate in its 
mental tastes, but eagerly devours whatever it can 
obtain. Indeed its mental appetite is like to its bodily : 
as insatiable as indiscriminate. 

The feelings of fear, surprise, joy, disappointment, 
change, harmony, and so on, are ver] 7 acute and intense, 
in so far as as they are practically involved in concrete 
experiences. There are the beginnings of the higher 
forms of feelings, e.g., of love in the selfish attachment 
to what has constantly satisfied the wants : of trust, in 
the primitive credulity of inexperience and ignorance : 
and of respect, in the deference which helplessness 
must pay to strength. 

Such are the chief characteristics of the child during 



164 EDUCATION 

its first three years of existence. During this period it 
probably receives a greater number of impressions and 
fresh experiences than during any other three years of 
its whole life. This may be called the earliest material- 
collecting time, the great importance of which is due 
to the fact that, here as elsewhere, first impressions are 
likely to prove very lasting and leavening. 

Feeling has reached a higher stage of development, 
when the feeling element in an experience is definite 
and distinct for the mind. It is then the case that the 
mind grasps the feeling rather than that the feeling 
takes possession of the mind. When this is so the 
feeling becomes more significant, for the mind realises 
something more than the element of pleasure or pain. 
There is an appreciation of what we may call the feel- 
ing-tone : the difference between the feelings of 
hunger, refreshment, thirst, sweetness, sourness, tired- 
ness, vigour, and so on. 

That feelings are thus marked off from each other is, 
of course, due to the power of knowing. The knowing 
element helps to still further develop the classifying of 
feelings by bringing about the association of certain 
feelings with the conditions and objects which cause 
them. The power of willing, as exercised in the con- 
trol of the feelings, is most helpful to the development 
of feeling, by preventing the loss of significance in 
the excess of general disturbance. 

Above all, progress in the growth and development 
of feeling is due to the growth and development of the 
body. As the powers and activities of the sense 
organs increase, so the mind is supplied more freely 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 165 

and fully with all kinds of sensations ; and upon the 
quality and quantity of this nourishment and exercise 
depends the mental advance. The health and activity 
of the body are of the most essential importance in this 
respect. A feeble or inactive body will mean a more 
or less undeveloped mind. 

There is, however, something more than an extremely 
powerful and active receptivity in the mental life of the 
child. Willing is doing its work in the form of simple 
and direct attention. Similar feelings are aroused by 
similar experiences, and the mind not only responds in 
a like manner to like sensations, but it becomes aware 
that this is the case. In other words, knowing is being 
developed through the classification of feelings. So 
also is willing, for the attention gradually becomes 
more sustained and intense in its working. Thus feel- 
ings are classified and known, in- an elementary and 
direct sense. 

Knowing may be said to be of a very superficial 
nature at this stage, and might be compared with the 
knowledge that an adult has of things through mere 
signs. A bookseller's assistant may know a great many 
books, written in languages he is quite ignorant of, by 
their titles ; but, though he would be able to pick them 
out without hesitation or mistake, they would have no 
further meaning for him. 

The child's knowledge of things through sensation is, 
at first, of this nature, but after a time it becomes able 
to relate to one another its various experiences of the 
same object, and thus begins to form collective ideas of a 
thing, and of things, in a concrete and practical sense. 



166 EDUCATION 

It will learn to think of its mother not only as a woman 
with the attributes of a woman — so far as it knows of 
them — but as having special relations of practical con- 
trol, ministration, and guidance, with regard to its own 
life and the lives of those of the same family. And it 
may even go so far as to begin to form some general, 
though vague and very incomplete, idea of what adults 
understand by motherhood. 

Some cautions are necessary here. It is often said 
that the child has a particularly strong power of imagina- 
tion, and is, therefore, able to picture to itself all sorts 
of things and conditions which it has never experienced. 
Hence its delight in fairy tales, and its habit of attribut- 
ing human powers and qualities to such objects as dolls 
and dogs. 

Now, if the phrase "power of imagination " is to be 
understood in the same sense as when applied to adults, 
the above view is almost certainly mistaken. In the 
first place, it assumes a power of abstract and reflective 
thought in the child which there is every evidence to 
show is absent. Next, if the behaviour of the child be 
carefully observed, it will be seen that there is real 
belief behind what is called its imagining. It will cry 
as seriously about what it thinks to be an injury to its 
doll, as about its own sufferings. It cannot discriminate 
at first, between that which superficially resembles a 
human being and that which is really human. It is 
serious but utterly wrong judgment based upon pro- 
found ignorance, which is mistaken for imagination in 
children. 

Again, children soon learn to ask if the tales which 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 167 

are told them are true ; and many develop a great con- 
tempt for mere fairy tales whilst retaining all their 
liking for stories of real adventure. It is the child's 
love of novelty which makes it so eager to hear of 
strange things, whilst its complete ignorance, from the 
rational and critical point of view, renders it incapable 
of making choice of what to accept and what to reject. 
It therefore believes everything which affects its mind 
in a definite and significant manner. This is what Dr. 
Bain calls the primitive credulity of the child. 

Such a view is borne out by the history of the race. 
What we call the superstitions of the primitive savage 
are not, to him, mere imaginings. Unable to decide 
between real and apparent coincidence and cause, the 
savage mind accepts as positive concrete realities what 
we hold to be but the fancies of gross ignorance. It 
is hardly likely that anything short of the fullest pos- 
sible conviction would lead men to suffer such mental 
and physical tortures as are involved in most of the 
religious systems of uncivilised races. 

Some writers also credit children with great readi- 
ness in forming general ideas. They say that a child 
soon learns to use a name in its wide and general sense, 
so that when it knows the word dog it quickly grasps 
the notion that it should apply the name to an indefinite 
number of animals of a certain kind. Here again 
far too much is taken for granted on behalf of the 
child. It is indeed one of those mistakes which 
the adult is so likely to make when dealing with 
the child's mind, viz., reading into the comparative 
emptiness and crudeness of che child's mental experi- 



1G8 EDUCATION 

ences and activities the fulness and ripeness of the 
content of his own mental experiences and activities 
which deal with similar things and conditions. This is 
a most serious and fatal mistake for the educator to 
make, and its possibility should always be present to his 
mind to serve as a caution and a corrective. 

To generalise an idea, and, therefore, a name, in 
any real sense needs either a very extensive practical 
acquaintance with objects, or a clear and comprehensive 
rational analysis of, and inductive judgment about, 
qualities. The child has neither of these qualifications 
for generalising. Children do apply, and rightly, one 
name to many objects of the same kind, but in their 
earliest years the movement of thought is, as a rule, 
from one object to another, and not from one to many, 
or even from many to many. Much less is it from one, 
or a few, to all — except through the ignorant rashness 
and blindness so characteristic of incompetent beginners, 
and which often seems more penetrating than the most 
informed clearness of vision. 

Careful observation will show how mistakenly the 
child proceeds even from one case to another. Thus 
it will call every man " father," at first, and regards 
all toys as its own. Its judgments are almost invariably 
about single facts concerning single objects. It is 
very positive in its ideas, and, therefore, very much 
disturbed by contradiction. All this is against 
anything like 'a considerable power of generalising 
ideas. It is rather collective, and multiple, ideas, than 
general, which children have. They get more or less 
complex ideas answering to complex wholes, and they 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 169 

learn to apply these to all the individual instances they 
know of. 

Whilst recognising these general limits of early 
childhood it would be wrong to suppose that there is 
never anything approaching true generalisation and 
constructive imagination in the mental life at this 
period. It may frequently happen in the case of very 
precocious children, and not infrequently in the case 
of an average child, that from the third year onwards such 
developments definitely, but incidentally, appear. 

In all children there is a very strong power of repro- 
ductive imagination, and imitation, which may easily 
pass on to constructive imagination. This is well seen 
in the dramatic way in which they imitatively repro- 
duce the actions and words of their mother or teacher, 
in playing at being parent or instructor. Children 
appear to rethink the memories of events as vividly 
and intensely as they were affected by the original ex- 
periences. 

The chief point to be remembered is that it is the 
exception for the higher powers of reason to take 
definite form in the first three years of life, and that 
even after this they, for some time, only develop very 
slowly and subordinately. 

Knowing at this stage is of a practical nature. 
Children obtain what we may call a direct, limited, and 
descriptive knowledge of things and actions. They 
understand the qualities and powers of things from 
the concrete point of view. They know that an apple 
is large or small, green or red, sweet or sour, hard 
or soft, a kind of food, the fruit of a tree, and 



170 EDUCATION 

so on ; but these facts are rather heaped together than 
joined together in thought, in relation to the unity of 
the object. 

The use of adjectives instead of abstract nouns, that 
is, the concrete instead of the abstract term, is a very 
significant fact in the history of the child and the race. 
And this is still further emphasised in the use of 
concrete terms to express abstract ideas, even in the 
mental sciences. 

Observation and imitation are the characteristic ac- 
tivities of children. They are intensely interested in 
all that surrounds them. Every object and action is a 
matter to which they give all the attention they can, and 
from which they often get great pleasure. Everything 
is new to the child, and has all the charms of novelty, 
whilst occupying and satisfying its restless energy. So 
o-reat is the readiness in receiving, and the force in 
responding to, impressions, that they often result in in- 
voluntary imitation of an action, or of a simple series of 
actions. 

In "Practical Education," by Maria and R. L. Edge- 
worth, there are some very interesting records of 
children's judgments and ideas, which illustrate much 
that we have said ; but, of course, we cannot draw any 
general conclusions from them alone. A child who was 
three years old, on being questioned, said that a 
watch, fire, horse, and chaise, were live things, but 
that a tea-urn and book were not. It will thus be 
noticed that those things which appear to be active 
in themselves are thought to have life. A boy of five 
years asked whether a giant had not lived much longer 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 171 

than other men, so as to have time to grow so much 
more. The same boy, when eight, on being asked what 
a toothpick case was made of, and being told to look 
well at it, and feel it, asked if he might smell it. He 
then felt, looked at, and smelt it, and said : " It is 
black, and smooth, and strong, and light. What is, 
let me see, both strong and light, and it will bend — 
parchment?" An older brother identified the sub- 
stance, through having used some leather in making a 
piston for a pump. 

Very little need be said of the imitative activities of 
children. The readiness and thoroughness with which 
they play at mother and father, shopkeeping, and 
school-teaching, show not only their powers of copying 
closely, but also of very exact and searching observa- 
tion. They are often, in this way, the best of involun- 
tary critics, and give us many a chance of seeing our- 
selves as others see us. 

Similarly willing begins to get more self-dependent 
and initiative towards the end of the first period. 
Whilst in the earlier years willing has been more of a 
passive, spontaneous, automatic, and instinctive nature, 
it now is somewhat initiative, and is directed to ends 
fixed upon by the judgment. Self-direction, self-cor- 
rection, and self-initiation, along the lines of past ex- 
periences, begin to appear in a more or less definite 
form. This is well shown in the school by the child's 
ability to invent designs in elementary drawing, to set 
itself sums and to originate little tales out of the mental 
material it has acquired, even at the very early age of 
six years. 



172 EDUCATION 

This kind of development of knowing and willing is 
likely to take place about the sixth and seventh years. 
Feeling is still predominant, but much less so than 
formerly. 

The Development of Knowing. — During the second 
seven years of life there is very great growth and 
development of knowing. Not only cannot the child 
fail to mentally receive and appreciate the influences 
of its surroundings, but it is driven to taking the initia- 
tive in obtaining experiences, by the needs of its 
mental and bodily life. The constant questions as to 
why and how objects act in certain ways, show the 
existence of a mental appetite, which is as keen as it 
is extensive. 

By the end of the seventh year most children have 
formed more or less systematic habits of mental work. 
They will apply themselves as readily and earnestly 
to mental activity as to bodily, and, under proper 
conditions, they obtain nearly, if not quite, as much 
pleasure from the former as from the latter. Exer- 
cise and nourishment of the mind are as necessary and 
should be as pleasurable to the child as exercise and 
nourishment of the body. 

The practical knowledge of things is very much 
extended, and made more systematic and complete, so 
that towards the end of the second period it begins to 
be definitely scientific, in an elementary sense. The 
child begins to more definitely realise its power of 
knowing, and to take delight in exercising it. 

This advance is brought about by a closer analysis of 
experiences, and a more thorough and comprehensive 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 173 

grasp of relations. For example, the parts, powers, and 
qualities of an object are more clearly recognised to be 
dependent units which make up the total unity or 
object. Then again these different details are more 
carefully compared with each other, and with the 
details of similar objects, and thus the points of likeness 
and unlikeness are taken account of in greater fulness. 
This fuller recognition of similarity and difference is the 
basis for some of the highest judgments that can be 
made about things, for they lead on to the discovery of 
what we call the reasons for things. 

Again this closer and more complete analysis of 
things from the practical point of view, that is, with 
regard to our actual concrete acquaintance with, and 
knowledge of, them, enables us to make more definite 
and satisfactory classifications. Thus a further step is 
made towards organised knowledge,, or science. 

The receiving and retaining powers of the child are 
at their very highest during this period. Indeed, from 
about the tenth to the fourteenth year memory is 
stronger than at any other time during the whole life. 
Hence an enormous store of impressions, facts, and 
concrete ideas is acquired at this stage. It is, there- 
fore, of vital importance that these should be of the 
best, most accurate, and most helpful kinds. 

Nearly all the materials which are acquired are sub- 
mitted to the judgment. The judgments which are 
made about them are still predominantly concrete and 
direct, but they are more connected and extensive than 
formerly. This is shown by the ability to give in 
writing, or orally, a more or less exhaustive account 



174 , EDUCATION 

of au object, not only as to its parts and qualities, but 
also with respect to its powers and its relations with 
other objects, so far as these are shown by actions and 
their results. 

With this apprehension of the connection between 
actions and results conies the first form of an idea 
which later on becomes the most purely rational and 
highly philosophic of all our ideas— the idea ■ of cause. 
At first the idea is purely practical and concrete, and 
consists, as already indicated, in the connecting, in 
thought, of certain actions with their usual results. 
But the idea gets fuller and more abstract as time 
goes on. 

We may say that the development of knowing during 
this stage is shown by the greater definiteness, detail, 
completeness, accuracy, and unity of practical judg- 
ments and ideas. This applies to each separate idea, 
and to its relation to other ideas, through things. Also 
these ideas become more and move abstract, that is, 
they are known to the individual as ideas, apart from 
the objects and experiences which give rise to them. 

Language now begins to be familiar and very helpful. 
It serves to give clearness, definiteness, and permanence 
to ideas. Ideas are more readily and thoroughly, 
surely and easily, controlled. It is much easier to 
retain and recall an idea through a symbol, than when 
dealing with the idea itself. Another means of impart- 
ing knowledge is also provided by language ; and the 
bridge which carries the individual from the lower to 
higher kinds of thought is largely built of words. 

Where previously there have been groups of judg- 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 175 

merits about things there will now be series of con- 
nected and dependent judgments about them. In 
other words, the power of reasoning, or connected and 
dependent judging, appears. Reasoning is at this 
period predominantly practical, or concrete. It deals 
mostly with things and events, as a rule, and only 
with principles and causes, in their purely rational 
aspects, occasionally and superficially. Mind begins 
to find in its surroundings a coherence and unity which 
also belong to its own nature. 

That the mental powers take time to reach such a 
condition of judgment is shown by such facts as the 
following. In the lowest forms of language abstract 
terms are entirely wanting. The Tasmanians, when 
first known, had no general term for a tree, though 
they had names for each particular kind. Neither 
could they express qualities such as hard, soft, round, 
warm, cold, short, and long. 

In the North American languages a name sufficiently 
general to denote an oak-tree is exceptional. The 
Choctaw language contains names for the black oak, 
white oak, and red oak, but none for an oak, still less 
for a tree. The Coroados of Brazil have no conception 
of the general powers and laws of nature, and therefore 
cannot express them in words. 

All this shows that the mind is, at first, almost en- 
tirely taken up with the effort to know single things. 
It is only gradually that it is able to clearly and defi- 
nitely take account of groups of things, even with 
respect to concrete numbers, much less with regard to 
their abstract qualities, powers, and principles. 



176 EDUCATION 

We may illustrate the nature of the knowledge 
which the average child possesses towards the end of 
this period, by a description of what we consider would 
represent his knowledge of an ordinary lamp. In the 
first place he would have very definite and exact ideas 
about its function, shape, and parts, and their concrete 
relations. He would probably be able to give the 
practical reasons for its having a chimney, and for this 
being removable : for the need of the perforated 
arrangement just below the wick: for the use of the 
weight of the pedestal : the function and action of the 
wick : and for various other details. Also he would 
be likely to know the nature of the material of which 
each part is composed, and the practical relation of this 
to the special function performed. 

This involves a great deal of classification, and, 
therefore, of judgments based upon previous know- 
ledge. Each detail has to be compared, in thought at 
least, with previous experiences of things of the same 
class, and its points of special likeness and difference 
noted, in relation to the lamp as a particular object. 
The greater familiarity with, command over, and 
facility in the use of, language, however, makes this 
comparatively easy, and ideas, as such, are very readily 
dealt with through their verbal signs. Through words, 
a considerable number of ideas can be represented in 
the mind at the same moment, and comparison and 
classification are then not so difficult. In a similar 
way the abstract elements of ideas are more easily 
developed through the aid of words. 

Further, the various details of the lamp will be under- 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 177 

stood as making up the one whole. There will be the 
realisation of the fact that the removal of any one 
separate part changes the previous total more or less 
seriously ; whilst changing the character of an essen- 
tial part, such as the perforated air-passage, will alto- 
gether destroy the former character of the whole. The 
relation of air to flame will be grasped, from the prac- 
tical side ; and it may be practically demonstrated that 
it is not the oil itself, but the gas which it gives off, 
which supports the flame. 

Knowledge such as this is just on the borderland of 
pure science, and will of itself often force the intelli- 
gent student to make one or more of those generalised 
abstractions which go to make up the principles of the 
different sciences. 

Although the child is now less easily deceived than 
formerly, and more slow to accept first impressions as 
final truths, yet, when it has new and striking experi- 
ences, it is still apt, so to speak, to swallow things 
whole. Neither its knowledge nor its mental powers 
enable it to be very cautious or critical. 

During this period the bodily powers are growing 
and developing very considerably. The child is able 
to influence its surroundings to a very large extent. 
It finds that it can carry out series of actions which 
briDg about results which are more or less interesting 
and instructive to it. This leads it to spend its very 
great physical energy in all kinds of explorations and 
investigations on its own behalf. Towards the end of 
the second seven years boys begin to develop the egg- 
collecting, stamp-collecting, animal-keeping, and other 

M 



178 EDUCATION 

forms of systematic and independent activity. In their 
games also they are quite capable of forming and con- 
ducting their own little organisations and plans. 

Anything which offers the opportunity for the child 
to bring about results by its own unaided efforts is 
most eagerly welcomed by it. To be able to say "I 
did it all myself," is one of its greatest pleasures. 
Indeed it is apt to be very intolerant of too much 
guidance and assistance, however kindly rendered. 
The bodily vigour enables it to continue constantly 
active at high pressure, so that the amount of work 
which it can get through is, comparatively speaking, 
enormous. By work is here meant the more or less 
free, spontaneous, and pleasurable activity of mind and 
body, in taking appropriate nourishment and exercise. 

This parallel progress of bodily power and of know- 
ing, is shown by the appearance of personal tastes, pre- 
ferences, propensities, and independence of thought and 
action. Habits are now being formed, which will later 
on fix the character of the individual. Ideas, and even 
ideals of a simple kind, begin to be the guiding power 
in life. Aims and ambitions may take possession of 
the mind. In short the higher, or purely rational, 
mental life is beginning to predominate. 

One very important consideration must always be 
remembered with regard to the development of know- 
ing. Whilst feeling will be developed very much to the 
same extent in very different surroundings, the progress 
of knowing will vary very much according to differences 
of surroundings. If, for example, one child is brought 
up in the home of well-educated and refined parents, 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 179 

whilst another is reared in the cottage of very poor and 
ignorant parents, the former is likely to develop the 
purely rational elements of knowing considerably sooner 
than the latter. But this consideration must not be 
pressed too far. School influences and the struggle for 
existence do much to sharpen the wits of the poor. 

It is more often the case that the difference is one of 
direction rather than degree. The street arab is likely 
to be as mentally keen and powerful as the public- 
school boy, but with regard to entirely different 
matters. Similarly the average country child and the 
town child, the agriculturist and the artisan, or the 
man of business and the scholar, are likely to have, as 
a rule, about the same degree of development of mental 
powers, though very different acquirements. A definite 
and marked distinction has hitherto existed between 
the mental development of the . average child in a 
primary school and a secondary school ; but this now 
seems to be largely disappearing. 

From what has been said about the advance of know- 
ing at this stage of the child's life, it will be seen that 
willing is also making considerable progress. If this 
were not so neither thought or action could have those 
elements of independence and individuality which have 
been suggested. 

Now that judgments come freely, the connection of 
actions with effect is known, and the possibilities of xihe 
bodily powers are recognised, the mind makes judg- 
ments which imitate series of bodily actions. This is 
practical willing. The hesitation in taking independ- 
ent lines of action, and the want of perseverance in 



180 EDUCATION 

pursuing them when taken, which have characterised 
the earlier years, now begin to disappear, though they 
are still frequent and conspicuous. 

Children begin to realise their will power, and 
acquire some control over it. They are no longer so 
easily moved to action by the mere force of impressions. 
Involuntary imitative actions become less frequent, and 
are replaced by voluntarily chosen and designed imita- 
tions. The intense volatility of the young child begins 
to develop into the greater steadiness, power of sus- 
tained attention, and regularity, of the youth. 

As we have said, plans and series of actions are 
carried out. This involves the systemising of willing. 
Thus willing, like knowing, is developing a practical 
coherence and unity. 

Feeling is still very keen, strong, and active, but 
much more under control. Owing to the progress of 
knowing and willing the feelings are much more fully 
and accurately discriminated. Hence they are more 
significant and less emotional, or passionate. Life has 
passed from its more purely vegetative to a more purely 
human character. Feelings become less animal and 
more humane and sympathetic. 

The various feelings, as connected with different 
experiences, have now far more definiteness and signifi- 
cance than formerly. Both knowing and sense capacity 
increase the fulness of their meaning and detail. And 
the feelings in their turn stimulate and promote the 
desire to know. The sentiments also are taking definite 
form. Gratitude, affection, respect, sympathy, self- 
esteem, and many other sentiments, in their more 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 181 

practical and concrete aspects, are possessed by the 
child. 

We shall have much to say about the details of the 
growth and development of knowing in later chapters 
on the development of ideas and the growth of know- 
ledge. 

The Development of Willing. — In the third seven years 
of life, willing is predominant in development. But 
this predominance is, perhaps, hardly so marked as that 
of feeling and knowing in their respective periods. 
This is doubtless due to the fact that willing is so very 
closely connected with knowing, which still develops at 
a very rapid rate. But there is hardly any question 
that the advance of willing is the characteristic feature 
at this stage. 

It is generally recognised that youth, and early man- 
hood and womanhood, is the time when individuals 
begin to assert themselves, to desire their own way, to 
be impatient of control, to be dogmatic and uncompro- 
mising in judgment, and to cling persistently if not 
obstinately to their opinions and prejudices. At the 
same time it is a period when great initiativeness, readi- 
ness, boldness, perseverance, and power in action are 
shown. 

The average youth is the last to practically admit 
that " we are all fallible, even the youngest," or to 
recognise that human powers are, after all, very limited. 
The sense of power, the feeling of vigorous vitality, the 
pleasures of action, and the inexperience and ignorance 
of youth, are all conditions which tend to make the will 
run riot. What Dr. Bain calls the pleasures of pursuit 



182 EDUCATION 

are very keenly relished, and there is too much buoy- 
ancy in the nature to feel failures very much, even if 
they are admitted. 

All these characteristics of youth depend upon the 
development of willing. Willing as an activity of 
mind is now definitely under the general mental con- 
trol. Involuntary willing is almost entirely superseded 
by voluntary willing. What is generally understood 
by the will — the power to initiate, and to choose 
between, thoughts and actions — now appears. This 
fact is realised by the individual, and instead of too 
much hesitation and too little steadfastness in willing, 
there is often too little hesitation and too much per- 
sistence. Youth is apt to be rash and headstrong. 

Just as there was an almost limitless desire and 
eagerness to know, when the powers and pleasures of 
knowing began to be realised, so there is now a con- 
stant and eager indulgence in willing for the sake of 
the excitement, interest, and satisfaction which the 
exercise of the power, and the accompanying actions, 
give. 

But there is much more than this increase of power 
and intensity in willing. The coherence and unity of 
the separate activities of the power are developed to a 
much higher degree. Series and systems of willings 
are carried out, and these are again related to each 
other so as to form more comprehensive and complex 
unities. Thus the individuality and character are made 
to take a much more definite and effective form. 

Separate actions, and courses of actions, are now 
decided upon according to the individuality of the person. 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 183 

It is during this period that the individual develops the 
powers and preferences which are likely, if the matter 
is left entirely to him, to lead to the choice of a definite 
kind of life-work. Such a choice, when made after full 
consideration, and with some realisation of its meaning 
and consequences, involves one of the most powerful, 
permanent, and important efforts of will that the 
individual ever makes. And, if this be so, the fact of 
such a momentous choice being made is conclusive 
evidence of the great development of willing. 

The chief element of advance in the power of willing 
is the ability to organise series of actions, mental and 
physical, which are intended to bring about more or 
less remote ends. Children have very little, if any, 
regard to future pleasures or pains. But in later youth 
and early manhood, or womanhood, when the mind 
begins to realise more fully its own powers, there is a 
strong tendency to pay more attention to the future 
than to the present. The poetry of mental ideals 
has more attraction than the prose of commonplace 
realities. 

The imagination is now vigorous, but it is neither 
checked by deep knowledge and critical judgment, nor 
chastened by the convictions of wide experience and 
frequent failure. Hence the enthusiasms, Utopian 
dreams, beliefs in practical perfection, struggles for the 
realisation of ideals, and living in the future, of young 
people. Willing is with them such a reality that they 
fail to distinguish between the reality of a willing and 
the possibility of its practical realisation. Every one is 
likely to be more or less of a visionary at this time of 



184 EDUCATION 

life. To conceive ideals is, in youth, to believe in them, 
and to believe in them is to struggle to realise them. 
It is in this connection that willing is called upon to 
initiate and maintain the stimulus to series of actions. 

Willing may, therefore, be said to be more concerned 
with purely intellectual judgments and activities than 
formerly. Most of the willings necessary for practical 
affairs have become habitual, and only new departures 
in ordinary life demand deliberate and self-conscious 
acts of willing. It is the higher and more purely 
rational activities which now begin to assert themselves, 
and which, therefore, need the energising and organis- 
ing control of the will. Thus willing itself becomes 
a more purely rational activity, for it is, practically, 
wholly due to and concerned with the mind, as such. 
It has become an expression of the intellectual and 
moral self, or the ego. 

In this its highest form willing is chiefly dependent 
upon knowing. Knowledge is the stimulating influence 
which is responded to by the higher willings. As we have 
previously asserted, knowing is a motive for willing. 

Since willing is ordinarily, and rightly, associated 
with acting, we may illustrate its development by a 
brief account of the development of action. All 
organised action, with the exception of the instinctive, 
is at first mainly imitative. Charles Lamb's delight- 
fully humorous account of the way in which roast pig 
became such a popular dish really contains many 
elements of historical truth. Such happy accidents 
have led men to many, if not most, of their discoveries. 

Thus it is held that man first learnt to make fire by 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 185 

observing the result of the rubbinar together of dried 
branches when swayed by the wind, or the effect upon 
dry leaves of falling spaiks made by knocking flints 
together. The history of progress is full of accounts 
of such stumblings upon discoveries. 

Then there is the imitating of the actions involved, 
and the application of the results to practical affairs. 
In this way observation and imitation produce many of 
the highest aids to progress. Much more is it true 
that imitative action is the means of furthering the 
more ordinary elements of development. We may say 
that in such cases willing is acting so as to cause the 
mental response to impressions to result in re-expres- 
sion of the original influences — as in the case when a 
hearer repeats the gestures of one who dramatically tells 
a story. Such willing is both prompted and guided by 
presentations. 

From these almost compulsory imitations individuals 
soon learn that it is worth while to look out for helpful 
examples of causes and effects, and to expend consider- 
able effort in trying to copy them. Thus there comes 
an element of initiation into imitative action. Willing 
is prompted and guided by practical experience and 
knowledge. 

Later on, actions, are prompted and guided almost 
wholly by judgments based upon the knowledge already 
obtained through observation, action, and previous 
judgment. Actions of this kind are based upon, and 
designed to carry out, series of judgments due almost 
wholly to the purely initiative powers of the mind. 
Pure rational willing is the cause of such actions. It 



186 EDUCATION 

is the highest form of willing, and the highest results 
of thought and action in human life are due to it. 

As an expression of the individuality of the self, or 
ego, the will controls the actions which produce habits, 
and is in time largely controlled by the habits which 
are formed. Character is an expression of willing, and 
willing expresses the character. All the powers and 
possibilities of the individual may be more or less fully 
realised when willing has reached its highest level of 
development. 

Whilst willing is thus developing up to its highest 
level, so also is knowing. We have already remarked 
that knowing begins to be of a strictly scientific char- 
acter towards the end of the second seven years. 
During the third seven years, it becomes, under favour- 
able conditions, more completely and generally scientific 
in character. The learner is no longer satisfied to 
know things as facts, but he desires to know, and 
insists upon knowing, in a scientific sense, the causes 
of things, and the laws and principles which belong to 
them, so far as this may be possible. 

Let us inquire more particularly into what is to be 
understood by a scientific form of knowing. We have 
already given the usual definition : science is organised 
knowledge. To organise knowledge is to set it forth 
in its proper order of co-ordination and subordination : 
its inter-relations, inter-dependence, and inter-connec- 
tion. These therefore must be found out. In other 
words, we must obtain a knowledge of the elements, laws, 
principles, causes, and effects of the different kinds or 
classes of things, and of their nature and actions. 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 187 

How, then, does the mind obtain this knowledge ? 
As has been previously remarked, the mind at first 
deals only with individual objects, as concretes. Later 
on it learns to take account of larger or smaller groups 
of like things, that is, it forms ideas of classes, in a 
concrete sense, and makes inclusive judgments about 
them. But, in the third period of development, it has 
come, so to speak, face to face with its own mind, and 
definitely and clearly realises that there is in its know- 
ledge a purely mental element, the application of which 
is not necessarily confined to one object, or one class of 
objects. 

This fact is not only recognised, but is systematically 
made use of, and the individual now generalises his 
judgments in a conscious and purposeful manner. Such 
a rational use of the judgment is very different from 
the experience-limited and practical collective judg- 
ments of an earlier period. The individual now recog- 
nises the fact that there are elements of universal 
truths in the connection of causes and effects which are 
discovered in single objects. A very great advance in 
mental development is involved in this, for knowledge 
can now be consciously organised, and the existing 
organisms of knowledge (the sciences) can be more 
clearly and comprehensively appreciated from the purely 
rational or theoretical point of view. 

Such a movement of thought from particular in- 
stances and judgments of limited application to the 
recognition of universal truths and the forming of 
judgments of universal application, is called inductive 
reasoning. A detailed example of this has already 



188 EDUCATION 

been given in the chapter on the scope and method of 
education. We will now express the matter in quite 
general terms. 

There is first a particular observation of a certain 
class of facts, or phenomena, which common experience 
has shown to have significant points of similarity ; then 
follows a more careful, thorough, complete, and sys- 
tematic classifying of these facts, according to what 
is learnt from severely searching observation. This is 
followed by that higher form of knowledge about the 
qualities, powers, relations, and nature of the things, 
which leads to the forming of an opinion as to the 
reason, or reasons, for the existence of certain general 
qualities or powers. These general judgments about 
the reason for such things, are known as theories or 
hypotheses, and they are, at first, simply supposings, 
or, as the scientist would say, purely hypothetical 
theories. They seem, as we say, to offer a satisfactory 
explanation of matters. 

The next thing is to put them to the proof. This is 
best done by taking two instances of the conditions 
which constitute the phenomenon which are exactly 
similar to each other, with the single exception that in 
one case the condition (or conditions) which is held to 
be the reason or cause for the phenomenon, is present, 
whilst in the other it is absent. This must be, so far 
as we can secure it, absolutely the only difference 
between the two cases. Then, if, after many experi- 
ments and experiences, we always find in the one case 
that the phenomenon itself is present, whilst in the 
other it is invariably absent, we may safely conclude 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 189 

that what we have given as reason, cause, or law, is the 
right one. One other element of proof remains. The 
theory is regarded as true, and is taken as the basis 
for reasoning about the phenomena which it represents, 
and also about other phenomena. If the conclusions 
of such reasonings prove to be invariably sound when 
practically applied to concrete cases, then the theory 
is regarded as finally established. 

When principles and laws are arrived at by inductive 
reasoning, they become centres and sources of numer- 
ous other judgments of a more or less general character. 
As was pointed out in the description of an induction, 
a universal truth or principle is not finally accepted 
until it has been frequently tested by practical applica- 
tion to particular cases, and found to be invariably 
correct. For example, if we hold it to be true that 
when the worker is interested in his work he produces 
his best results, then whenever we find particular 
persons, or groups of persons, really interested in their 
work, we ought invariably to find that they are doing 
the best work of which they are capable (at the time). 

The reasoning would proceed as follows : — all in- 
terested workers do their best work ; these persons are 
interested workers ; therefore, these persons do their 
best work. It will be seen that the first judgment is 
the result of the investigation which has given the in- 
duction, the second is the result of a special and limited 
investigation as to the character of a class, and the third 
is the result of a purely rational relation of the two 
previous ones. The first is a pure universal, that is, 
it is practically infinite as to its application ; the second 



190 EDUCATION 

is general, bfct definitely limited ; and the third is only 
as wide as the less comprehensive of the other two. 

Instead of referring to a class in the second judg- 
ment, we might have referred to an individual only. 
The third judgment would then refer only to the indi- 
vidual. Such a movement of thought from judgments 
with a more general to a less general, or individual, 
application is called deductive reasoning. 

It should be noticed that deductions are based, and 
depend, upon inductions, and that inductions depend 
upon deductions for their verification. Thus the two pro- 
cesses are inseparably connected with each other, and 
are really only two phases in the process of establishing 
rational truth. They directly bring about that inter- 
connection of knowledge which gives it scientific form. 

From what has been said of induction and deduction, 
it will be seen that knowing has what we may call a 
progressive and a regressive order of development. It 
first advances from individual experiences and judg- 
ments, through close analytic and synthetic investiga- 
tion, to principles of universal application. When these 
have become established and familiar, the mind uses 
them for interpreting and explaining new experiences, 
and for the more complete understanding of previous 
knowledge. So there is progress from a knowledge 
of things to a knowledge of laws, and then from an 
understanding of laws to an understanding of things, 
new and old. 

Towards the end of this period, and onwards, the 
mind begins, and continues, to take account of itself in 
a more or less definite and systematic way. It recog- 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 191 

nises that judgment, as such, belongs wholly to the 
mind, and is, as judgment, separate and distinct from 
experiences which give rise to it. Hence are recognised, 
in a more or less full and complete sense, the differences 
between a thing and its attributes, effects and causes, 
actions and laws, systems and principles. This involves 
the recognition of the difference between practical and 
theoretical knowledge, between that which is predomin- 
antly sense-given and that which is predominantly 
reason-given. 

Strictly logical reasoning of this kind is very largely 
dependent upon language. Indeed, with regard to the 
highest forms, it may be said to practically depend 
wholly upon the aid which language gives. This is a 
point with which we shall deal more fully later on. It 
will be sufficient to say here that language has now 
reached its highest form of usefulness to thought, and 
makes possible the most abstract ideas and reasonings. 

Let us again refer to the kind of knowledge which 
may be obtained about a lamp, for the purpose of 
illustrating what is meant by this higher sort of know- 
ing. From a deeper and more exhaustive study of the 
parts and functions of a lamp we may arrive at the 
laws of combustion, as shown by the lamp-flame : con- 
servation of energy, as seen in the products of the 
burning : cohesion, as exemplified in the different sub- 
stances of which the parts consist : of capillary attrac- 
tion, as involved in the function of the wick : and so 
on. 

These would be grasped in a more or less superficial 
sense at first ; and can only be known in some fulness 



192 EDUCATION 

when studied under special sciences. In the most 
advanced stages of such subjects the inter-relation and 
inter-dependence of the principles themselves are con- 
sidered. 

Now is understood somewhat of the truth that every 
unit is in itself a unity of parts, powers, qualities and 
relations, which may be, and generally are, practically 
infinite. It has been well said that a fact is an infinity. 
And yet these infinite unities are but units in greater 
unities, and these of others. Indeed it is only because 
of this that we are able to speak of any one thing as 
being infinite. 

A pen is a simple and commonplace enough article. 
And yet what profound truths are involved in the co- 
hesion of the particles which compose it; what a vastly 
significant history there is in its development to its 
present form ; and what a power its work has exerted, 
and is exerting, upon the destiny of the world. 

If we regard things in such ways, and endeavour to 
find the elements of infinite inter-relation and inter- 
dependence which they have, then we are making our 
views of things tend towards a realisation of what is 
believed to be the one grand infinite unity of existence 
and knowledge. We may pursue our inquiry still 
further, and try to find out what is the nature and 
essence of existence or being, as such, both in its 
universal (mind and matter) and general (animate and 
inanimate things) forms. This is philosophy or meta- 
physics, and is clearly a purely rational form of 
knowing. 

How far an individual will go in such a very abstract 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 193 

form of mental development, must always depend upon 
his native capacity and vigour of mind and body, educa- 
tional advantages, and length of life. Every average 
mind is capable of something in this direction, but not 
many seem capable of much. Most persons can how- 
ever appreciate the work of original thinkers. 

Both willing and knowing are greatly indebted to 
the growth and development of the physical powers, in 
this stage. The extreme energy, vivacity, powers of 
endurance, delight in action, and desire of conquest, in 
the ordinarily healthy youth, make the carrying out of 
willings and the obtaining of knowledge-giving experi- 
ences comparatively easy matters. And since exhaus- 
tion of the physical energies is very soon recovered 
from, and the force and fulness of the powers soon 
re-established, the pursuit of knowledge is constant, 
and its intensity maintained. 

Feeling is still very active and powerful, but is much 
more subordinate than even in the second seven years. 
It is now regarded as a sign of weakness to show any 
marked evidences of the effect of certain feelings, and, 
indeed, this idea is sometimes taken to such extremes 
that it is held to be bad form to give emphatic expression 
to any kind of feelings. But they are still apt to be 
occasionally violent and excessive, owing to the inten- 
sity of willing. 

Now the higher and nobler sentiments are greatly 
developed. Affection, love, admiration, devotion, wor- 
ship, esteem, sympathy, and the like, assume more 
purely rational and moral forms. With them are also 
developed their opposites of dislike, hatred, jealousy, 



194 EDUCATION 

indifference, neglect, contempt, disrespect, and unfeel- 
in guess. Also the higher feelings of truth, beauty, 
goodness, and virtue, take on their fullest and finest 
characteristics ; or are perverted to base and ignoble 
forms. Feelings of novelty, contrast, surprise, and the 
like, all have much greater significance, and more 
direct and remote relations in thought. Fearlessness 
is more under the purposeful control of willing and 
knowing; whilst fear is often less frequently shown, 
and less intense when active. The feeling of power 
brings with it the feelings of responsibility and obliga- 
tion. 

The development of willing makes it possible to re- 
press the feelings to a very considerable degree. A 
good illustration of this repression is shown in the 
amount of physical pain boys will endure rather than 
admit, either by weeping or appealing for mercy, that 
they are unable to bear it. 

There are, however, higher motives for repressing 
the feelings. It is soon found that a state of emotion 
or passion is generally a barrier to accurate and profit- 
able willing and knowing. Hence it is that definite 
efforts are made to obtain, and maintain, control over 
the feelings. 

On the other hand some of the feelings are deliberately 
indulged, with a freedom often approaching license, on 
certain occasions ; whilst others are systematically cul- 
tivated for pecuniary or personal reasons. It is usually 
thought right to give very emphatic expressions of 
feeling on such occasions as : victory in games, exhibi- 
tions of power and skill, the appearance of popular or 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 195 

eminent persons, and so forth. One might almost say 
that it is required of people to show marked signs of 
distress in connection with certain sad events amongst 
close relatives or friends. It is clear, therefore, that 
the feelings must be very much under command. 

The systematic cultivation of the feelings takes place 
in the training of the musician, artist, actor, singer, 
orator, and the like. All these have need of the power 
of fully realising in themselves, or to conceive, states of 
feeling so that they may truthfully express them in 
their respective arts. We may say that the piano-tuner, 
the wine-taster, the tea-taster, and others, cultivate the 
feelings in a more concrete sense. 

Ordinary people indulge, and cultivate, their feelings 
in a more or less systematic way through attendance at 
dramatic performances, concerts, balls, military and 
civil pageants, and so forth. Such exercising of the 
feelings, when under the control of willing and knowing, 
is helpful to both of these, for there is much in the 
occasions which conveys knowledge in an attractive 
and vivid manner, and there is generally a very restful, 
refreshing, and invigorating change of the activity of 
willing. The proper indulgence of the feelings is as 
profitable as it is pleasurable. 

The special gratification of the feelings, through 
sensations, seems likely to receive much more attention 
in the near future. Already what are called colour- 
concerts and perfume concerts have been given. In 
these performances colours and perfumes are made to 
succeed each other, either singly or in combinations, in 
a manner resembling solos and harmonies in music. 



196 EDUCATION 

The sense of taste lias been carefully cultivated in all 
ages through the pleasures of the table. 

That the history of the race has many valuable 
suggestions for the educationist is made evident by 
even a slight acquaintance with writings on anthropo- 
logy. Writers on the subject argue from the evidence 
of historic remains, and the conditions of savage races 
at the present time, that primitive man was little more 
than an animal amongst animals. He was a creature 
of fierce impulses, child-like intellect, and tremendous 
sense-powers and skill. Constantly fighting for safety 
and subsistence, he was but a poverty-stricken wanderer 
without fixed home or interests. 

His mental ideas were of the vaguest and most 
mistaken nature, as is shown by the horrible super- 
stitions which possessed him. And yet he was slowly 
and painfully learning to know those obvious qualities 
and differences of things which affected his own life, 
and which go to make the basis of the science and 
philosophy of to-day. 

Like modern savages his power of sustained attention 
must have been extremely small, if he could be said to 
really have any at all ; anything in the way of abstract 
ideas took ages to develop ; the idea of a to-morrow 
was of comparatively late growth ; his language con- 
sisted almost wholly of gestures and imitative sounds ; 
and his knowledge of number seems not to have ex- 
ceeded three, or five, for a very long period. 

Action was the chief concern of primitive man. It 
was necessary for him to think in connection with his 
actions, but not for hiui to know that he was thinking. 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 197 

Hence his thought was intuitive, immediate, and prac- 
tical, in so far as it had to do with his ordinary actions. 
As these activities grew in number and complexity, and 
the sphere of their application was increased, so thought 
and knowledge became fuller and deeper. This is 
clearly demonstrated by the history of man during the 
stone age, and the age of metals. 

The gradual evolving of the higher products of the 
thought and action of to-day can be clearly traced from 
the most primitive thought and action of the earliest 
races. The present consists chiefly of the remains of 
the past. Our religious ceremonies, marriage customs, 
names of days of the week, and many other matters, all 
contain traces of a very remote past. 

A careful study of these things is as necessary as it 
is helpful to the right understanding of the problem of 
education. Man has not fundamentally changed his 
nature, and, indeed, only a fraction of the race seems to 
have undergone any very considerable change at all, in 
the way of what we call advance in civilisation. The 
European nations with their foreign branches, which 
claim to be the most highly civilised, comprise, at the 
most, not more than one third of the total population of 
the world. 

Whatever, therefore, we can know about the past 
development of the race will, at least, throw very 
considerable light upon the present nature of human 
beings. And such a knowledge is one of the first 
conditions of a grasp of educational principles. 

Some General Remarks on Development.— The general 
order of development as sketched above applies not 



198 EDUCATION 

only to the life as a whole, but also to each particular 
line of progress and to every considerable unit of 
advance. And this is true at every stage of life, for 
the reason that all the elements of mind are always co- 
active, however much any one of them may predominate. 

An adult can often dispense with actual sense ex- 
periences in connection with a new form of knowledge, 
because he may have had a considerable number of 
similar ones, the details of which he can easily recall 
to mind. The sense experiences are, so to put it, 
duplicated. But if he is unable to do this, then the 
best, and the only certain and really significant, method 
is to give him the proper sense experiences. As 
Professor Laurie says: " If ever you have the mind of 
an undeveloped adult to deal with (a Central African, 
for example, or a British boor), and desire to teach him 
anything, you must, even with him, start from the 
simplest child-elements of it." 

There is a point, however, in the history of a well- 
developed mind when, in consequence of its ripe reason 
and rich experiences, it is able to make use of what we 
have termed the order of regressive advance to a very 
considerable extent. • The highest order of scientific 
mind is able to reason from principles and effects to 
phenomena. This is best shown in such cases as the 
discovery of new planets from the actions of known ones, 
the invention of machinery which exemplifies scientific 
principles, and the anticipation of concrete discoveries, 
based upon rational deductions. 

But even such very exceptional powers are, in the 
last resource, obliged to make use of the material 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 199 

obtained from actual experiences, with regard to know- 
ledge about the physical world. In the case of all 
purely rational knowledge, the mind is, directly and 
immediately, only indebted to its own activities ; but 
the original source of all that is in the mind as know- 
ledge is the experiences which happen to the senses. 

Another point which requires to be clearly understood 
is that we regard a certain stage of development as 
reached only when there is a clear consciousness in the 
individual of the possession of a power, at least in a 
concrete and practical sense, and a frequent use of it. 
Incidental powers and results due to the possession of 
the germs of such powers, must always precede, to a 
greater or lesser extent, the definite and general 
development of them. 

Still more necessary is it to always bear in mind that 
our knowledge of the development consists in the 
realisation of movement rather than steps, x of tendencies 
rather than times, in the life history of a human being. 
To endeavour to fix the exact times at which exact 
amounts of development take place is likely to prove 
even more mischievous than inaccurate. At the same 
time, our ideas and actions would become chaotic if we 
fail to recognise and allow for the practically infinite 
similarities of nature and development amongst indivi- 
duals of the same kind or class. 

Whilst it is impossible to trace in details the different 
items of development from one stage to another, yet it 
is quite easy, in most cases, to know that an individual 
has or has not reached one or other of those important 
periods which have been mentioned, by the fact that he 



200 EDUCATION 

is able to do certain characteristic mental and physical 
work. Whilst there is a period when a person seems 
to be neither quite a girl nor a woman, a boy nor a man, 
yet this is followed by a period when no one would 
hesitate to say this person is a woman, or man, and not 
a girl, or boy. 

Perhaps the most important characteristic of true 
development is the increase of the ability to do more 
difficult, profound, and complex things. At first only 
very simple, easy, and obvious things are done. When 
some measure of facility and accuracy in doing these 
has been secured, then there is a gradual increase in 
the power to do greater and higher work. This is true 
of the general stages of development, and also of every 
complete particular development and each of its parts. 

But there is also the great truth that life includes 
decay as well as growth. All organisms have a limit 
of higher organisation, from which, sooner or later, 
proceed disorganisation, decay, and death. This is 
true of the whole and of its parts, and the extent to 
which the whole or separate parts will develop, and the 
time when they will begin to decay, depend upon the 
native vigour and capacity of the individual, and the 
chances and changes of life. 



CHAPTEE V 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION— {continued) 

From our knowledge of the chief phases of mental 
development come some of the most important of all 
the educational principles. It will be at once recog- 
nised that if we hold that education is the science of 
human development in so far as this is purposely 
determined by the systematic imparting of knowledge, 
then the order of development, and the ordering of 
instruction so as to best aid and determine it, are the 
two points with which education has most to do. In 
fact we may say that all the educational principles 
directly depend upon, or are related to, this great central 
consideration. Every principle must either express 
some aspect of this truth, or be regulated by it. This 
will appear more and more clearly as we proceed with 
our discussion. 

The Principle of Development. — We have already 
insisted that it is necessary to have continuity, co- 
herence, system, and unity, in education, so that we 
may best assist the mind to develop according to its 
own proper nature. It is just as essential that there 
should be differences in the matter and manner of the 



202 EDUCATION 

educating influences, according to the varying char- 
acter and force of the mental powers at the different 
stages of their development. Hence we have this 
principle of development. 

Rousseau insisted that we ought to " let infancy ripen 
in infants." And Professor Laurie has well said: 
" To which we may add ' Let boyhood ripen in boys, 
youthhood in youths, and manhood in men. ' Do not 
anticipate. " Comenius regarded the period of the com- 
plete education of youth as extending from the first to 
the twenty-fourth year. He divides this into four 
periods of six years and prescribes a different, but de- 
pendent, work for each, according to the powers and 
capacities which are developing during each period. 

The best way of practically describing development 
is to say that every new element in a thing, whether 
of quality or quantity, grows out of what was pre- 
viously present, and grows into that which is after- 
wards present. This great truth is popularly expressed 
in several generally accepted educational maxims ; it 
will be convenient, therefore, to discuss the principle in 
connection with these. 

1. From the Known to the Unknown. — This is the 
usual form of the rule, but, since we can never fully 
know all about a thing, and certainly cannot proceed 
straight to the knowledge of the entirely unknown, it 
would be better to say : from the more or less known 
to the more or less unknown. The real meaning is 
that we must first discover all the known details in a 
fresh experience, and use them as means of understand- 
ing those which are new. Since a whole is but a 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 203 

union and unity of its parts, the more we know of the 
latter the greater chance there is of understanding the 
whole. 

The same point is involved in the principle of inter- 
relation and inter-dependence, which is really only a 
special aspect of the principle of development. The 
foundation of both is the fact that the meaning of every 
new experience depends very largely upon the power 
of interpretation given by past experiences. In other 
words presentations always involve re-presentations. 

A simple illustration of this is seen in the case of 
a child meeting with a giraffe for the first time. 
Doubtless, at first, the child would be filled with the 
most intense astonishment, if not terror. But it will 
soon recognise that it is a living thing with four legs, 
a body, a tail, a neck, a head, two eyes, two ears, a 
nose, and a mouth. This will enable it to class the 
object as an animal, and a quadruped. It will then 
be able to give its attention to the chief elements of 
difference, which are the size and proportion of the 
well-known details. From this it can be easily led 
to form some correct ideas of the habitat, and habits, 
of the giraffe. 

Every child is, mentally, full of almost infinite 
details of elementary knowledge, that is, of mental im- 
pressions, left by the experiences which have happened 
to it. Before ever a human being can definitely affect 
a child through the properly educative influences, it 
has been subjected to innumerable influences, which 
have left important and lasting effects. Were this not 
so the educator could not do a thousandth part of what 



204 EDUCATION 

is ordinarily done by him. It is only as this inevitable 
knowledge of the child is clearly recognised and made 
use of that early education can be as effective or 
extensive as it might be. 

" Jean Paul says of the child, that it learns more in 
the first three years of its life than an adult in his three 
years at the university ; that a circumnavigator of the 
globe is indebted for more notions to his nurse than to 
all the peoples of the world with whom he has come in 
contact. It is, in fact, astounding what a relatively 
immense crowd of ideas a human being gains in the 
first years. He gets acquainted with a thousand things 
of home, street, garden, field, wood, the wonders of the 
heavens, the manifold events of nature, the land and 
the people of the neighbourhood, and learns to call most 
of them by name ; he learns to use a great part of the 
vocabulary of his mother tongue, and its most impor- 
tant forms of word and sentence ; he learns to think in 
the vernacular " (Dr. Karl Lange). 

To directly base formal education upon such facts is 
most likely to arouse interest in the learner, for it is 
calculated to make him feel that what he already knows 
is practically useful and able to bring more knowledge 
and greater power. The ability to make accurate and 
deeper judgments depends upon the readiness and 
fulness with which we make comparisons, and the 
kind of standard with which we compare. If we fail 
to find many connections between the new and the 
old, it is not possible to make many judgments. 

Let it not be forgotten that the most familiar is 
often the least known. The farm labourer who sees 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 205 

so much of many kinds of plants and flowers . gene- 
rally knows least about them, in the way of formal 
knowledge. At the same time, such a familiarity 
with certain objects is the best possible starting point 
for scientific knowledge. Nothing becomes known to 
us in a full and significant sense unless, and until, we 
thoroughly and carefully observe and reflect upon its 
parts and powers in their detail and unity. 

This rule applies equally to experiences, knowledge, 
thoughts, actions, and words. Dr. Bain has well said 
that : " If a demonstration proceeds upon principles 
not already understood ; if a description contains terms 
with no meaning to the person addressed ; if directions 
involve acts that have not been previously performed, 
the upshot is a failure." 

The following are examples of progress from the 
known to the unknown. A little child may be taught 
many things about the cat in its own borne. Then 
other cats of the same kind, in other homes, may be 
considered. This will widen its knowledge of the animal 
and of homes. Afterwards another species of cat, which 
is met with in the same neighbourhood, can be studied 
in a similar way. This should be followed by species 
met with in England, but not in the child's locality. 
Thus some foreign kinds will be introduced. From tame 
cats to wild cats may be the next step. Knowledge of 
the habitat, and habits, of the latter will prepare the 
way for learning about the tiger. So the series can 
be extended to any convenient extent; and at any 
point there may be a passage from knowledge about 
the animal to knowledge about its surroundings, prey, 



206 EDUCATION 

and foes (animal and human). Hence geography and 
general natural history may be dealt with. 

Also from the same starting point another series 
may be followed. When some knowledge of a cat 
has been obtained through observation and talk, this 
may be used as a basis for getting a knowledge of the 
signs for spoken words, through a reading lesson. 
This in turn will serve as a reason for learning about 
the way of forming the necessary symbols, through 
lessons in drawing and writing, which give the oppor- 
tunity for proceeding from the representative (outline 
of the animal) to the conventional (word) sign. The 
arrangement of the legs of the animal supply the 
material for a systematic number lesson. The language 
material will, later on, serve as the subject-matter for 
grammar lessons. Similarly all the subjects usually 
employed may be quite naturally led up to. 

The general nature of what will, as a rule, be known 
by the individual at certain periods of his life has been 
pointed out in the previous chapter. Knowledge, of the 
kind appropriate to the different stages, about all the 
ordinary natural phenomena and common objects, such 
as : air, light, weather, trees, flowers, fruits, vegetables, 
household furniture, clothing, and so on, may be taken 
for granted in every case. Of course there will be 
differences of detail in knowledge in the cases of town 
children and country children, and those who live in 
manufacturing, agricultural, seaside, or mining districts ; 
and there will also be individual differences as to the 
details of knowledge of those who live in the same dis- 
trict, or even in the same house. The wealth or poverty 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 207 

of parents, and their different occupations, will mean 
variety in the details of the immediate surroundings of 
the children. 

Nevertheless there is always a substantial and con- 
siderable amount of common knowledge which, for all 
practical purposes, may be taken as possessed by all, in 
the same sense. House, horse, butter, bread, chair, 
field, water, and practically innumerable other objects 
have the same meaning for all, and offer common 
sources of knowledge-influences in formal education. 
The elements of individual differences in knowledge 
must be related to the common items and used as illus- 
trations and examples. 

2. From the Simple to the Complex. — This again is 
a rule which directly depends upon the nature of 
development as such. "Milk for babes and strong- 
meat for men," has been a long-recognised proverbial 
truth. There is no need to do more than refer to 
what has been already said about the gradual increase 
of the mental, and bodily, powers in support of this 
practical rule. 

The only real difficulty in the matter is to decide as 
to what is simple, and how to proceed so as to solve 
the complex by the simple additions of simples, in so 
far as this may be possible. 

It is probably true to say that all that is possible for 
the human mind to know possesses difficulty mainly in 
so far as it is complex, intricate, and incapable of being 
presented and grasped in simple separate details. In 
other words, the greatest of all difficulties is that of com- 
plexity. Hence, the function of the educator is to take 



208 EDUCATION 

every means of resolving things into their simplest 
elements, and to present these in gradually increasing 
complexity, and in such relations that the total complex 
is most clearly and fully realised and understood. 

But this is always subject to the condition that the 
whole complex has, in a superficial and elementary 
sense, first been grasped. It is not possible to under- 
stand the nature of a part of a whole unless some 
general idea of the whole has been formed. Of this we 
shall have more to say in the chapter on the develop- 
ment of knowledge. 

Simplicity and directness are the chief elements of 
helpfulness to a learner. Each new point must be 
clear in itself, and in its relation to those other parts 
which are immediately connected with it. Every fresh 
item of knowledge must be of a kind that the pupil 
can apprehend, and must not try his powers beyond 
their strength. That is to say : both quality and 
quantity must be suitable. 

Comenius puts this point very happily when he says : 
" Most teachers sow plants instead of seeds ; do not pro- 
ceed from most simple principles." 

Of course the word simple is a purely relative term. 
What is simple to the philosopher may be extremely 
complex to the practical man, and conversely. What 
is simple to the child is complex to the infant. Perhaps 
the best description of the simple is : that which is well- 
known, familiar, and under such control that it can, as 
a rule, be readily and accurately applied either in theory 
or practice. It is clear that such knowledge will form 
a safe and sure basis for advance. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 209 

The first thing to do, therefore, is to find out what 
knowledge of such a character the learner has in relation 
to the knowledge which it is desirable for him to possess, 
and what power in applying it. The general character 
of the knowledge possessed at certain stages of develop- 
ment has been described in the previous chapter. The 
particular items of knowledge will be according to the 
special experiences and training of the individual. 

What we may call the order of greatest simplicity 
will be best obtained by first taking wholes which are 
made up of simple units. The whole should be carefully 
analysed and the relation of each of the parts to the 
others in the total complex mastered. Then the nature 
and special qualities of each part should be dealt with. 
Then we may go on to the analysing of more complex 
wholes into groups of significant units, and when the 
general character and relation of these have been 
mastered, treating these groups in a similar way. In 
other words we should carefully observe the principle 
of graduated difficulty. 

Probably there is no more severe test of the true 
educator than his method of demonstrating the complex. 
A catalogue of the elements involved in a complex is 
of very little, if any, help to the understanding of the 
whole. If a clockmaker should begin to instruct an 
apprentice by telling him the names of every separate 
part of a clock, he would most likely make confusion 
worse confounded in the mind of his pupil. The most 
helpful method would be to proceed in some such way 
as the following. 

Let us suppose that we wish to impart knowledge 

O 



210 EDUCATION 

about a certain complex. We will further assume that 
this is an object which consists of three principal parts, 
and that these parts consist of several smaller parts, each 
of which has three or four units of detail. The first thing 
is to get a good general idea of the whole, and then of 
each of the three principal parts. The learner must 
know in what way these three parts make up the whole, 
and what are their general characteristics and relations. 
Much of this will be best learnt by taking the object, 
or a model of it, and separating the three parts, and 
then putting them together again. 

When so much has been mastered, so that it has 
become clear and simple to the learner, then the lesser 
parts should be treated in a similar way. And, after 
these have been learnt, then their details can be dealt 
with. Thus the order of simplicity is : from the whole 
to the chief parts, then to the lesser parts, and finally 
to the details of these. The relation of each unit, 
whether a group or an individual, to the whole must 
always be insisted upon ; and each step must be 
thoroughly known before the nest is attempted. 

In this way the mind gets knowledge most easily, 
clearly, and accurately, and acquires a method in its 
work which greatly economises its energy, and makes 
possible what would otherwise not be so. 

Thus there are two things to be decided, firstly, what 
are the elements and relations of the knowledge complex, 
and, secondly, what are the powers and present know- 
ledge of the learner. True knowledge is a growth, not 
an accumulation ; and a child's mind resembles a 
developing plant, not an empty sack. The mind is an 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 211 

organ which requires to be well and wisely provided 
with appetising food ; but it must do its own eating, 
digesting, and assimilating. 

The educator must always endeavour so to arrange 
the work of the learner that each component part of a 
whole, its nature and detail, and its relation to the 
whole, is most easily observed, understood, and remem- 
bered. The movement of thought and knowledge is 
from wholes to their parts and powers, until the wholes 
are somewhat fully known. Through such a know- 
ledge of individual wholes all those belonging to the 
same class or kind are known. 

Mr. Herbert Spencer remarks on this maxim : " The 
mind develops. Like all things that develop it pro- 
gresses from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous; 
and a normal training system, being an objective 
counterpart of this subjective process, must exhibit a 

like progression Not only in its details should 

education proceed from the simple to the complex, but 
in its ensemble also." 

One of the most valuable practical applications of 
this rule is found in connecting all the early knowledge 
lessons with the experiences and objects of the home 
life. Every home is the world in miniature, just as 
every person is humanity in the little. Geography can 
be developed from the home surroundings, natural 
history from the domestic animals, and so on. The 
aim must always be to widen the field of knowledge. 
As Pestalozzi says : " The circle of knowledge com- 
mences close round a man and from thence stretches 
out concentrically." 



212 EDUCATION 

For all general and practical purposes the simple 
may be taken to be that which properly belongs to the 
period of development in which the individual then is, 
and with which he is actually familiar both with re- 
spect to experience and knowledge. The complex will, 
from this point of view, be that which is unfamiliar to, 
or in advance of, the present state of development of 
the individual. 

Some most interesting evidence of the development 
of the power to grasp the simple and the complex is 
found in the history of the idea of number. One 
African tribe has been found to have a separate name 
only for one object, any number of objects more than 
one being called many. The Bushmen could not count 
beyond two ; other tribes have different words for one 
and two, but then proceed to combine these thus : two- 
one, two-two, two-two-one, two-two-two. Many savage 
races are unable to count the fingers of one hand. 

3. From the Concrete to the Abstract. — This practical 
maxim is the most directly expressive of the principle 
of development. It covers, in a general way, all that 
has been said about the three great stages of develop- 
ment ; and, therefore, has the very highest meaning and 
authority for the prapticai educator. Comenius says : 
" First, the senses should be exercised ; then the memory, 
then the understanding, and lastly, the judgment/' 
Interpreted according to modern psychology, this ex- 
pression is a good way of stating the matter, 

First educate the senses. This is the truth which is 
insisted upon by this rule. That most ancient of all 
philosophical and educational truths: " there is nothing 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 213 

in the mind which is not first in the senses," mnst be 
recognised and realised from the very first. The abstract 
can, primarily, come only through, and out of, the 
concrete. No concrete, no abstract, is the condition. 

Rousseau is the great apostle of this truth. But like 
many great pioneers of scientific thought he has ex- 
aggerated the principle, and urged it to the exclusion 
of others which are equally important. He says : " The 
first faculties which are formed and perfected in us are 
the senses. These, then, are the first which should be 
cultivated." 

There is nothing for the mind to exercise its power 
upon until the senses bring it impressions. Clearly, 
therefore, the more effective and extensive are the 
powers of the senses, the wider and deeper are the 
powers of the mind likely to be. The need and advan- 
tages of the cultivation of the senses are obvious when 
we consider the clumsy and inaccurate manner of their 
early use, as compared with the delicate and exact work 
which they can do after careful training. 

An adult who had been born blind, but had, after an 
operation, recovered his sight, thought, at first, that 
everything was actually touching his eyes. It was 
some little time before he could visually mark off one 
thing from another. Like the blind man of old he 
would " see men as trees, walking." With this may be 
compared the effects of suddenly waking up in strange 
surroundings, and the coming out of a railway tunnel 
iuto broad daylight, as showing the need of experience 
and control in the use of the eyes. 

So it is with all the senses. Through careful training 



214 EDUCATION 

the eye gets an almost telescopic range and microscopic 
power ; the ear learns to discriminate minute differences 
of pitch and tone; the hand decides between delicate 
shades of texture and temperature ; the taste appreciates 
refinements of flavour; the sense of smell accurately 
identifies many odours ; and the muscular sense esti- 
mates very small differences of weight and effort. 

Dr. Isambard Owen has suggested in an address 
to the students of St. George's Hospital Medical 
School, that school-children should " be trained in 
numerical perception till forty, let us say, could be 
as easily distinguished from fifty as four from five, 
and line, surface, and area estimated with similar 
exactness." 

Whilst the principle involved in this is a very sound 
and valuable one, the application is probably far too 
wide for general purposes. It would take too much 
time and effort to attain to such a power ; it would be 
of comparatively little practical use, and the loss in 
other directions would be too great a price to pay for it. 
Some few specialists might find it worth while, but the 
ordinary man would lose more than he gained. It is a 
practical necessity, and a constant advantage, for a pro- 
fessional accountant to be able to add up five or six 
columns of figures simultaneously, but the man in the 
street has not often to do such work, and cannot afford 
to acquire such a facility. 

Our senses are certainly somewhat neglected from 
this point of view, but we must beware of the other 
extreme. Education is as much concerned to avoid 
total or proportional over-development, as general or 



GENERA.L PRINCIPLES 215 

relative under-developruent. The mental power de- 
rived from the ability to estimate the number of in- 
dividuals in a group is hardly of much rational value, 
and the practical advantage is limited and special. 
More training is wanted, but not too much, for ordinary 
purposes. 

As Rousseau says : "To call into exercise the senses, 
is, so to speak, to learn to feel ; for we can neither 
touch, nor see, nor hear, except as we have been taught." 
It would be better to say that we cannot touch, see, or 
hear with scientific fulness and accuracy unless we have 
been well taught and trained. The truth of this will 
need no demonstration to those who have had a good 
training in practical science. 

According to the correctness and completeness of our 
sensations will be the precision and depth of our judg- 
ments and reasonings about things. The minuteness 
and comprehensiveness of modern scientific research 
show most conclusively that those who are well ac- 
quainted with details are, as a rule, best qualified to 
form sound and far-reaching judgments about matters. 

It may be said, in general terms, that if one person 
uses his senses more accurately than another he is 
likely also to use his judgment and reason more accu- 
rately with regard to physical objects. To put the 
point in another way : one who has good sight will be 
likely to form more correct judgments about the ap- 
pearances of things than one who is short-sighted. The 
same kind of thing is true of the other senses indi- 
vidually, and the truth is still more emphasised in those 
general judgments about objects which are based upon 



216 EDUCATION 

the materials given by the co-operation of all the senses. 
The senses both supplement and correct each other, so 
that the weakness of one is an element of weakness in 
all the others. 

The wonderful precision of sense discrimination which 
can be obtained by training- is well shown in the cases 
of the blind and deaf mutes. Deaf mutes are, so to 
speak, taught to hear with their eyes and sense of 
touch ; whilst the blind learn to see with their ears and 
hands. 

Only from correct observations of the forms, materials, 
actions, and the concrete results of actions, can we form 
right judgments about the qualities and powers of 
things. Hence the absolute necessity of first obtaining 
extensive and exact experiences. To get these we must 
have powerful and well-trained senses. Thus we are 
led to take the most careful account of the psychology 
of the senses, hygiene, and physical training, for pur- 
poses of practical education. 

Another reason for first dealing with the concrete, in 
the case of children, is that, as M. Greard says : " The 
child is born with the desire to observe and know. The 
interior life being not yet awakened in him, he belongs 
entirely to the phenomena of the exterior world. All his 
senses are on the alert ; all the objects that his sight or his 
hand encounters attract him, interest him, delight him." 
Thus the principle of interest demands this order. 

The foregoing all tends to confirm the opinion that 
the elements of natural science are the most appro- 
priate and fruitful educative influences in the earliest 
stages of education. Such influences are always acting 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 217 

upon the child, easy to systemise, and pleasurable in 
their effects. What the individual consciously and 
constantly experiences must be known more or less 
fully and accurately. It is the educator's function to 
secure the conditions which are favourable to the 
greatest fulness and accuracy in knowing. Of course 
such knowledge must be imparted by means of practical 
observations, experiments, and investigations. 

Mr. Herbert Spencer lays down the principle that: 
" Every study .... should have a purely experimental 
introduction ; and only after an ample fund of observa- 
tions has been accumulated, should reasoning begin." 

Whilst, however, this third practical rule is the very 
corner-stone of educational order, the usual form of 
expressing it does not suggest all its implications. In 
the first place, the educator must confine his efforts to 
imparting knowledge in its concrete or purely practical 
form during the first stage of development. That is, 
the first form of the rule should be : from the concrete 
to the concrete. There must be no attempt to give 
abstract ideas of the qualities and powers of things, in a 
definite and explicit manner. Of course the abstract 
elements must necessarily be involved in the experi- 
ences, but they are entirely unrecognised by the indi- 
vidual whilst he is in the first stage of development. 

" We should provide for the infant a sufficiency of 
objects presenting different degrees and kinds of resist- 
ance, a sufficiency of objects reflecting different amounts 
and qualities of light, and a sufficiency of sounds con- 
trasted in their loudness, their pitch, and their timbre. 
.... Moreover, as these simplest elements have to be 



218 EDUCATION 

mastered, and as the mastery of them whenever 
achieved must take time, it becomes an economy of 
time to occupy this first stage of childhood, during 
which no other intellectual action is possible, in gaining 
a complete familiarity with them in all their modifica- 
tions " (Mr. Herbert Spencer). 

Towards the end of the second stage of development 
the educator should endeavour to get the pupil to 
cousciously and clearly recognise the abstract element 
of knowledge. What has always been implicit should 
now be made explicit. It is to this period, therefore, 
that the rule, as ordinarily expressed, most fully 
applies. 

But when the third stage of development is reached 
the learner is in the world of the purely rational, and 
should be able to carry out processes of abstract reason- 
ings. The inter-connection and inter-dependence of 
truths are now discovered fey the activities of pure 
thought. So the rule must now read : from the abstract 
to the abstract. 

This must not, however, be understood as implying 
that we can entirely confine ourselves to the world of 
the abstract. As Dr. Karl Lange points out : " As the 
tree must wither whose cells are not refilled with fresh 
sap every spring, so would also our abstract concepts 
die away and turn to empty shells, if we did not ever 
fill them with material derived from living sense per- 
ceptions. In this way the perceptions acquired by the 
child in his youth help to master and secui^e the abstract 
ideas. This is shown by still another consideration. 

"As is well known, all abstract ideas are denoted by 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 219 

words that originally applied only to concrete things, to 
activities and relations of the outer world. Of course 
this transference did not take place entirely arbitrarily, 
but words were mostly chosen that referred to a simi- 
larit}'' or to certain relations between the concrete and 
the abstract idea. One that has the concrete ideas in 
question vividly present, will necessarily unlock the 
abstract ideas more easily and fully." 

This inter-action between the concrete and the ab- 
stract must ever be maintained if we wish to obtain the 
highest value of either. Doubtless, in later life, a man 
can, so to put it, mentally live upon the stores of pre- 
vious experience, but if he endeavours to confine himself 
wholly to these his reasonings will tend to gradually 
become more and more remote from actualities, and, 
therefore, less and less accurate and reliable. 

Finally, if the mind has sufficient native power and 
capacity for the work of discovery and invention, then 
it is able to proceed by what we have paradoxically 
spoken of as regressive advance. By this we mean the 
reasoning backwards from abstract principles to con- 
crete facts, as when a scientist reasons out a new theory 
from the principles of mechanics and then invents 
machinery to illustrate it. Now, therefore, the form 
of expression should be : from the abstract to the 
concrete, or, to put it more exactly : from abstract ideas 
to their concrete implications. 

We may exemplify the above by taking the case of 
geography used as an educative influence. The first 
step would be to get the learner to know, in the sense 
of being acquainted with the general appearance and 



220 EDUCATION 

locality of, the different geographical features in his 
home surroundings, and to associate with these the 
right names and verbal descriptions. 

Then the same facts should be known in detail. The 
bed, banks, source, basin, mouth, of the stream or river : 
the base, summit, slope, height, material, of the hill or 
mountain : and so on, should be known and described. 
Practical judgments about these should be made, and 
communicated. These might be about the practical 
uses, character, and relations of the different features : 
the river as a means of irrigation, communication, 
and propelling force (water-mills) ; the mountain as a 
watershed, protection from cold winds, and source of 
minerals ; the relations which exist between mountains 
and rivers, as to the source, current, direction, and size 
of the latter. The connection of physical with political 
and commercial geography should be worked out. 

Principles may next be dealt with. The various 
physical, chemical, mechanical, and other principles 
which are involved in such phenomena as evaporation, 
denudation, climate, atmospheric movements, &c, will 
have to be considered when the mental powers are 
sufficiently developed to grasp them. Finally, the 
learner may be invited to use his knowledge and train- 
ing for the purpose of working out solutions of pro- 
blems concerning geographical phenomena ; as, for 
example, in an attempt to work out the geographical 
history of the home locality from its configuration. 

The plan of thus working backwards from given 
conditions to mental conclusions, or practical concrete 
solutions — as in making a new kind of article according 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 221 

to a given model, or detailed description — should be 
employed whenever practicable. It is the severest and 
best test of intelligent apprehension, and gives the 
most convincing and conclusive evidence of success or 
failure of mental grasp and practical power. Each 
stage of progress, and each item in it, will generally 
admit of some form or other of this kind of work. 
'Very considerable differences of degrees of difficulty 
can be arranged so that all may be submitted to it. 

When the results of such work are consistently satis- 
tory in individual cases, it will be safe to assume that 
right judgment or actions concerning certain matters 
have been acquired, and, if these have had time to be- 
come more or less habitual, the individual is in a fit 
condition for attempting more advanced work. 

The three rules : from the known to the unknown, 
from the simple to the complex, and from the concrete 
to the abstract, apply as much to the quality, quantity, 
and form of educative influences as to the order of the 
development of the mentai powers. We may say that 
experiences only should first be used, and names for 
things and actions given ; then experiences should be 
followed by original and suggested judgments, and the 
understanding of items of information ; and, finally, 
original and suggested reasonings should be gone 
through. As Her bait puts it, we must proceed from 
the empirical to the speculative, and thence to the 
Eesthetic, and so make the material arouse those in- 
terests which predominate at different periods. 

In application the influences will appear in the 
form of dictation, demonstration, suggestion, and dogma. 



222 EDUCATION 

That is to say, the first means of imparting knowledge, 
when a sufficient command of language has been 
acquired by the pupil, will be by bringing him into 
relation with objects and actions, telling him what are 
the names by which they are known, and giving him the 
simple elements of knowledge connected with them. For 
example, a child is first taught to play little games with 
cubes. It is then taught to count with them, and 
afterwards it is guided in measuring the sides and 
corners, and then told that all faces of things which 
have four equal straight sides, and four equal corners, 
are said to be of a square shape. 

Demonstration will consist in so setting forth the 
parts, connections, and relations of an object, that the 
right judgments are made by the learners, and so con- 
nected with one another as to give the correct idea of 
the whole. This will belong to the latter part of the 
first stage of development, and all subsequent periods. 

Suggestion involves the giving of such preliminary 
knowledge, and so much of the new knowledge, as will 
enable a pupil to complete, more or less fully, the 
particular whole by his own efforts. Thus, if several 
species of a certain kind of plants have been fully 
demonstrated, then a general sketch of past work and 
a few special hints as to a new species of the same class, 
ought to enable a pupil to obtain a knowledge of 
that species by his own investigations. This may be 
regularly used towards the end of the second stage of 
development, and subsequently. 

Dogma should mean the positive statement and 
acceptance of principles which have been rationally 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 223 

and practically demonstrated, and which the individual 
is able to re-demonstrate both theoretically and practi- 
cally, if the latter be possible. It is only suitable, as a 
means of education, for those who have reached the 
stage of regressive advance. General principles are 
taken as the basis for the construction of deeper and 
more comprehensive theories, for the criticism of 
theories, and for guidance in research. 

Both dictation and demonstration will be best accom- 
plished by the aid of spoken language; though the 
former may to some extent, and the latter to a consider- 
able extent, be assisted by written language, so long 
as this is well within the vocabulary of the learner and 
exactly reflects the method used in oral exposition. In 
suggestion the written aids may predominate, whilst in 
dogma nearly everything can be done through books. 
The living voice and the personality of the teacher are, 
as a rale, likely to prove more forcible, attractive, and 
helpful in special difficulties; whilst the written word 
is less apt to prejudice the learner: to allow him to 
shirk his share of the work : to provide for his indi- 
vidual difficulties : or to do too much for him. 

The great principle of development applies as much 
to particular items of development as to general develop- 
ment : to the parts of a subject, as to whole subjects : 
and to particular periods of an individual's life, as to 
the whole life. 

Educators should always aim at securing a step higher 
or further ; but whenever there is real difficulty in 
securing progress in a higher stage, according to the 
proper conditions for that stage, then there must be an 



224 EDUCATION 

appeal to the materials arjd conditions of a lower stage, 
and to the lowest if necessary. 

Cornenius constantly and specially insists upon the 
principle of development being realised in the details of 
teaching. In his work entitled " Didactica Magna" 
he lays down the following principles, amongst others : 
"Nature does nothing without a foundation or root; 
nature sends its roots deep; nature produces every- 
thing from a root, nothing from any other source ; 
nature, in each of its works, is in perpetual progress, 
never halts, and never attempts new things, the former 
things being cast aside, but only continues what has 
been previously begun, increases it, and perfects it ; 
nature binds together everything by continuous bonds ; 
nature begins all its operations from within outwards " 
(see Professor Laurie's book on Cornenius). 

The Principle of Doing. — Much the same ground is 
covered by this principle as by that of self-activity, but 
in a different sense. Whilst the latter deals with culti- 
vation of the highest and truest forms, general and 
particular, of an individual mind, the former is con- 
cerned with the general and inevitable activity of the 
individual which is absolutely essential to full and free 
reception of any and every educative influence. 

If it be true that the beginnings of knowledge are 
gained through the senses : that these develop through 
more detailed and systematic practical acquaintance 
with concretes : and that all the higher forms of know- 
ledge are more or less directly connected with, and 
dependent on, the lower, then it is clear that the 
personal activity of the individual is an indispensable 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 225 

condition of acquisition and progress. Exercise is one 
of the essential conditions of development — nourish- 
ment being the other— and regulated activity is the 
best kind of exercise. 

Froebel puts this point very forcibly, in the following 
words : " The starting-point of all that appears, of all 
that exists, and therefore of all intellectual conception, 
is act, action. From the act, from action, must there- 
fore start true human education, the developing educa- 
tion of the man ; in action, in acting, it must be rooted 
and must spring up " (" The Student's Froebel," W. H. 
Herford). 

Probably the most common and fatal mistake in 
education is the idea that learners have, for the most 
part, to sit still and listen, do their best to remember, 
and afterwards make more or less .successful efforts to 
reproduce the verbal signs for knowledge. Nearly all 
our knowledge of the physical qualities of things comes 
through handling and seeing them, and observing the 
results of their activities. Very little knowledge of 
things is obtained through tasting and smelling, and 
only a knowledge of the sounds made by certain things 
comes through the ear. 

The ear is not only one of the least fruitful organs of 
direct knowledge, but it is the last to be useful in help- 
ing us to gain knowledge indirectly, in that the verbal 
signs of knowledge are of no use to us until we have 
such a grasp of their application and general meaning, 
and such a fund of acquired knowledge, that we can 
readily and rightly reason from the sign to the thing 
signified. 

P 



226 EDUCATION 

Handling and seeing, if they are to be of any real 
and considerable use, involve a large amount of physical 
activity. It is as fatal as it is easy and usual to substi- 
tute the teacher's verbal description of what may be 
seen and felt ; but the educative way is for the pupil to 
handle and look, and describe what he so discovers — 
when he has sufficient command of words — until he can 
find out nothing further by himself. Then the educator 
must suggest and inform ; but the pupil must always 
verify the suggestions and information by his own expe- 
riences. 

Froebel's kindergarten, and its modern developments, 
seek to realise the principles of doing as the original 
and true source of early knowledge. The kindergarten, 
and its extensions, are not new knowledge-subjects, but 
new statements of the oldest and best means of obtain- 
ing knowledge. They are not educational materials, 
but educational means and methods. Their keynote 
is : knowing through doing. 

" Learn by doing " was Froebel's great axiom. He 
insists that " as the perceiving and grasping of a truth, 
by the way of life and action, is far more unfolding, 
forming and strengthening, than the mere reception of 
it in word and idea ; so, likewise a forming by and in 
matter, in life — by doing, connected with thiuking and 
speaking, is far more helpful for a man's development 
and improvement, than is representation by ideas and 
by word, without act or deed." 

Plato remarks : " The young of all creatures cannot 
be quiet in their bodies or in their voices; they are 
always wanting to move and cry out ; some leaping and 
skipping, and overflowing with sportiveness and delight 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 227 

at something, and others uttering all sorts of cries." 
Aristotle says : " Children should have something to 
do, and the rattle of Archytas, which people give to 
their children in order to amuse them and prevent 
them from breaking anything in the house, was a capital 
invention, for a young thing cannot be quiet " (Jowett). 

Whilst " learn by doing " is a great educational truth, 
it is also a much misunderstood and perverted one. 
" Throw a boy into the water, if you wish him to know 
how to swim," and "give a man the charge of a class, 
if he desires to know how to teach," are two typical 
examples of the misapplication of the principle. It 
is quite true that a boy cannot actually swim without 
going into the water, and that a person cannot really 
teach without taking charge of a pupil or a class ; but 
it generally makes all the difference between success 
and failure, if the individual has, or has not, had the 
best possible preliminary preparation for his task. 

Every one can find out some way or other of doino- 
what is necessary, but the whole point and purpose 
of teaching is to impart the best ways of doing things. 
There is ordinarily a good deal more in correct style 
than elegance and finish ; there is precision, effective- 
ness, control, and resource. Whilst, therefore, we should 
insist that the learner must be constantly learning 
through doing, we must also insist that he should be 
prepared for, and guided in, his actions. To know 
exactly what has to be done, and what are the best ways 
of doing it, and to have had as much preliminary drill 
as possible in the necessary actions — either with or with- 
out the actual material — constitute a large part of the 
work, and the best guarantees of success. 



228 EDUCATION 

Hence, the principle of doing involves the systematic 
and intelligent preparation for, supervision of, and aid 
in, doing. 

Doing is not only a great means of getting know- 
ledge, but it is also one of the best tests of clear 
apprehension, and one of the greatest aids to the 
retention, of knowledge. It is a form of expression ; 
and right expression is a proof of correct comprehen- 
sion. It helps to crystallise thought, and to make it 
as much a matter of habit as the actions themselves. 

In the higher stages of development, doing will take 
the form of oral work — in occasionally supplying some 
of the judgments in a reasoning — in solving problems, 
making abstracts, reproducing arguments, and so on. 
As Dr. Bain points out: "In the act of learning 
generally there is a twofold attitude — observing what 
is to be done, and doing it. In verbal exercises we 
first listen and then repeat ; in handicraft, we look at 
the model, and then reproduce it. The proportioning 
of the two attitudes is a matter of economical adjust- 
ment." We must regulate the principle of doing by 
the principle of stimulation. 

Physical education, as a means of training the 
senses is one of the most fruitful and educative forms 
of doing. The muscles of the body can be trained, by 
appropriate exercises, to greater precision and suscepti- 
bility in estimating effort, and of adaptation in making 
efforts : the eye in the delicate judging of visual efforts 
and effects, and in adapting itself for looking, as a 
basis for judging distance, size, shape, numbers and 
position: the touch for nice discrimination of rough- 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 229 

ness, smoothness, temperature, and physical connection 
or separation : the ear for distinguishing the acoustic 
differences of sounds : the organ of taste for deciding 
between flavours : and the organ of smell for respond- 
ing to differences of odour — which would otherwise be 
imperceptible to us. 

It would be well if this wider meaning of physical 
education were insisted on as the true one, as against 
the more narrow, and properly hygienic, limitation of 
the term to forms of muscular drill. Much might be 
done through careful instruction and training to make 
the ordinary powers of the senses more efficient. At 
present we are, as a rule, content to let the senses 
blunder into what capacity and accuracy they may 
according to the force of circumstances and the chapter 
of accidents. 

Systematic training of the ear, as in the ear tests in 
music, and in piano-tuning: of the eye, as of soldiers 
in practising the judging of distances : of the hand, as 
in kindergarten work : of the sense of taste, as in the 
case of the wine-taster : of the sense of smell, as in the 
case of chemists : and of the muscular sense, as in 
gymnastics, games, and arts, if carried out with more 
definite purpose and extent, and continued in the 
higher classes of our schools, will do much to further 
the comprehensiveness and correctness of our sense 
experiences. 

The principles of the education of the deaf, dumb, 
and blind, have much of guidance and suggestion for 
the work of general education. If the separate senses 
can be developed to the extent to which they are in 



230 EDUCATION 

these special cases, it is clear that much must be lost 
by the absence of any definite training whatsoever. 
Not that it is either necessary or expedient to train 
each sense, in ordinary individuals, as though it were 
deprived of the help of one or more of the other 
senses. 

Physical education, or the proper development and 
training of all the senses — which really involves the 
health and vigour of the whole body — is, therefore, 
another essential condition for the full realisation of 
the principle of doing. 

Doing is not only necessary as a means of receiving 
and retaining knowledge, and as a condition of life 
itself, but, as we have previously pointed out, it is also 
a pleasure, when it is appropriate to the needs and 
nature of the individual, and not excessive in quantity. 
Thus the principles of pleasure and interest are real- 
ised when the right conditions for action are present. 

Mr. Herbert Spencer urges that : " Nature has made 
the healthful exercise of our faculties both of mind and 

body pleasurable With all faculties lower than 

these (the highest mental powers), however, the im- 
mediate gratification consequent on activity is the 
normal stimulus, and under good management the only 
needful stimulus." 

Recognising this truth, and also the fact that chil- 
dren are little working machines, which must and will 
be doing something or other, we cannot escape the con- 
clusion that if we can only find appropriate exercise for 
their energies, and give them the best conditions, 
cuidance, and help for their work, then we may expect 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 231 

that valuable educational effects will result from satis- 
fying the desire of children for activity. 

Play is the expression of the child's desire for 
activity. A child must get some kind of knowledge 
through its play experiences, and there is every reason 
why its play should be made as fruitful in the mental 
pleasures of knowledge-getting as in the physical 
pleasures of sense-exercise. Froebel did much to 
solve the problem of making play educationally pur- 
poseful. 

The principle of doing applies with just as much 
force, and in quite as great detail, to mental as to 
physical work. The mind of the learner must be con- 
stantly making its own comparisons, judgments, infer- 
ences, and reasonings. It is the duty of the educator 
to stimulate, prompt, suggest, challenge, and demand 
these. Requiring illustrations from personal experi- 
ence : accounts of analogous instances : oral or written 
reproductions of subject matter : working of exercises 
and problems : re-discovery of truths : re-invention of 
theories and things : and the like, all serve to secure 
mental activity in the most direct, definite, interesting, 
and helpful ways. 

Of course it is assumed that the educator usually 
keeps within the limits of the powers and possessions 
of the learner, though constantly striving to lead him 
a step beyond these. Reception is the first duty of 
the learner, and forms the indispensable basis of pro- 
duction. Imports precede exports in intellectual com- 
merce. 

Dr. Karl Lange states the principle of doing very finely, 



232 EDUCATION 

both from its mental and physical sides, in the following 
passage : " It is conceded that all universal historical 
truths, all geometrical and physical laws, can only be 
inalienably appropriated when the instruction leads 
them into the closest connection with living questions 
and exigencies, and offers examples from the practical 
life and experience of the child for solution. . . . . For 
constant, manifold use of the material taught not only 
intensifies the clearness of it, but it also assimilates it 
with numerous ranges of thought, so that a fluent 
reproduction is assured. It brings forward the plain, 
comprehensible characteristics which the pupil again 
and again recognises in concrete things. It makes so 
many concrete fields subject to the universal that the 
latter is supported as with countless pillars, and is 
retained in consciousness by a rich treasure of strong 

sense perceptions In this manner it is provided 

that the newly learned facts shall not remain as dead 
material in the midst of acquired notions, but shall 
develop an assured activity and impulsive power. 
Knowledge now becomes power, and power becomes 
volition." 

Thus the principles of self-activity, inter-relation and 
inter-dependence, and repetition, are seen to be involved. 
As Schiller says: "There is no way for the results of 
thinkiDg to reach the will and the inner life of the 
child except through self-activity. Nothing but that 
which has already become a living deed within us, can 
become such in the outer world." 

So Dr. Karl Lange points out that he who has ob- 
served children at study under proper educational 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 233 

conditions " knows how far removed their energetic 
learning is from a simple, passive reception, and that 
not the teacher, but they themselves have the most to 
perform. He is convinced that knowledge cannot be 
transmitted, that the pupil must work it out independ- 
ently for himself. That is what the poet means when 
he says : ' What you have inherited from your fathers, 
you must earn again in order to possess it.' " At least 
we must earn it by learning how to take possession of it. 

The learner is not an empty vessel which has to be 
filled, nor ought he to be regarded as an automaton 
which can be made to perform certain processes in a 
given way. He is an organism which has to be well 
and wisely supplied with appetising and nourishing 
food. But it is the organism alone which can, and 
must, do its own eating, digesting, and assimilating. 
We cannot give a child knowledge, but only good, or 
bad, conditions for getting it. 

The developing being must be stimulated to desire 
and seek after knowledge. He must strive til] he gets 
it. There must be definite understanding that the learner 
has to learn, as well as that the teacher has to teach. 
No one can do the pupil's work except the pupil, and 
unless it is done, and well done, there can be little, if 
any, very high development. 

Dr. Goetze, in his handbook on manual training, 
points out that the inter-dependence of doing and 
knowing is shown by the history of the race, wherein 
" work has been the most important means of educating 
humaDitv,"and by the educational methods used ic the 
most advanced and abstruse parts of knowledge-subjects. 



234 EDUCATION 

He says : " A celebrated mathematician at the University 
of Leipsic had a modelling workshop which adjoined 
the lecture-room. He made his pupils model in plaster 
the curves and surfaces of the higher order which they 
had calculated, so that they might thoroughly under- 
stand them whenever drawing on the flat was not an 
efficient means of demonstration. 

"A well-known member of the medical faculty, a 
pathological anatomist, once said to me, that leaving 
purely verbal instruction out of the question, even the 
knowledge acquired by observation is not sufficient for 
the young medical student ; he must, through the 
methodical dissection of natural objects, train his hand." 
And Dr. Goetze himself remarks : " What should we 
know about the structure of wood, its density, specific 
gravity, sectile properties, combustibility, &c, had we 
limited our examination of trees to ocular contempla- 
tion? .... We wish to educate the child by practical 
work exactly as humanity has grown and developed 
under the educating influence of work." 

A very suggestive statement of the same truth is given 
by Dr. Isambard Owen in the address already referred to. 
He says : " Training as well as learning is a necessary 

part of medical education You have to do as well 

as to know ; and medical doing, like all other doing, 
requires a special cultivation of the faculties by which 
it must needs be exercised. We have for the most 
part to form our judgment from a combination of 
observations .... of minute changes in the con- 
dition of the visible surface, observation of involutions 
of the surface by means of optical apparatus, obser™ 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 235 

vations of the results of physical, chemical, and physio- 
logical tests, microscopic observations of disrupted 
fragments, and observations of a series of fine acoustic 
and tactile phenomena and reactions elicited and 
appreciated by means of the trained fingers or various 
artificial appliances." Again: "To neglect laboratory 
studies is to condemn yourselves to walk in fetters to 
the end of your days." 

Manual training, as a branch of physical education, 
is an essential condition for full and complete develop- 
ment. As Buffon has said : " The hand, together with 
reason, is that which makes man a man." 

One of the most valuable forms which the principle 
of doing can take is that of free but purposeful activity. 
That is, the element of play should be provided for 
throughout the period of ordinary school education. 
The educator should see that all kinds of games and 
sports are properly and systematically made use of ; 
but beyond initiating, advising, suggesting, co-operating, 
and preventing abuses, he should have as little as 
possible to do with the practical control and manage- 
ment. These should be left, as far as possible, entirely 
in the hands of the pupils. 

The relief, refreshment, and invigoration thus obtained 
are more than can be got from any other source, and of 
the greatest value in maintaining the maximum of 
energy and efficiency. Recreation, intervals, half- 
holidays, and vacations, within reasonable limits, are not 
matters of indulgence and luxury, but necessities for 
proper development. They come under the principles 
of stimulation, nourishment, and pleasure. 



236 EDUCATION 

And this element of free and purposeful activity can, 
with very excellent results, be introduced into the 
ordinary work of school education, under the principle 
of self-activity. For example, spelling-bees, guessing 
competitions, class contests after the Jesuit plan, and 
other exercises in which the pupils themselves conduct 
the proceedings, under the teacher's guidance, give very 
great pleasure, and produce permanent and valuable 
results when wisely managed. 

Comenius advises that: "Teaching should be tem- 
pered with an agreeable variety, and the playful 
element admitted. The rivalry and emulation of free 
games should be encouraged in lessons. And Aristotle 
says: "The first principle of all action is leisure. Both 
are required. . . . Amid serious occupations amusement 
is needed more than at other times (for he who is hard 
at work has need of relaxation, and amusement gives 
relaxation, whereas occupation is always accompanied 
with exertion and effort). At suitable times we should 
introduce amusements. . . . Leisure of itself gives 
pleasure and happiness and enjoyment of life, which 
are experienced not by the busy man, but by those who 
have leisure." 

The Principle of Sympathetic Control. — The first con- 
dition of the power to influence any person is to have 
such a general control as is sufficient to command his 
co-operation with, or non-resistance to, the influences. 
It is possible for an individual to resist and resent the 
efforts made to influence him. Such resistance must 
always depend upon the power of willing, whatever 
may be the motive which prompts it. It is necessary, 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 237 

therefore, that we should know how best to secure the 
co-operation of the individual's will. 

Now, since willing is stimulated and largely con- 
trolled by the feelings and knowledge, it is through 
these that we must seek to influence it. And, as 
feelings and knowledge are powerful to affect the will 
according as they have interest for the mental life, it is 
necessary to use the most interesting forms of them. 

Also, inasmuch- as willing always expresses itself in 
some form of mental or physical activity, or both, we 
shall, as a rule, know when we have been successful in 
our efforts by the fact that work is done by the indi- 
vidual in accordance with our aims. 

Those feelings and forms of knowledge will, generally, 
most interest an individual, which are closest in accord 
with the general nature of the needs of the particular 
stage of development which has been reached, and also 
with the particular inclinations and disposition of the 
person in question. This applies, in the widest possible 
sense, to the intellectual, moral, and physical powers. 
It is, therefore, through securing such conditions as 
best satisfy the needs of the life and character of indi- 
viduals that we are likely to obtain the most thorough 
and complete co-operative control over them. 

Our efforts must be as much against bringing about 
anything like a condition of dependent subjection, as 
towards the winning of a free and full consent to being 
guided and rationally governed. The former is fatal 
to high and vigorous development, whilst the latter is 
necessary to the success of helpful effort. It is as im- 
portant that there should be no undue constraint, or 



238 EDUCATION 

restraint, where sound progress is being made, as that 
authority, wisely used, should if possible, forcibly 
check unsound and mischievous growths. Force may 
be no remedy, but it is often an unfortunate necessity 
for securing an opportunity for remedial efforts to have 
a chance of taking effect. 

In ordinary cases, ordinary means should be both 
sufficient and efficient. Let us, therefore, accept the 
principle of sympathetic control as signifying the 
securing a legitimate influence over the will of an 
individual by supplying the most appropriate material 
and conditions, at the proper time, and in the proper 
proportion and amount, and so helping them to bring 
about their best effects in the best possible manner. 

The highest and truest end of external control being to 
produce the best form of self-control, there must always 
be a gradually decreasing amount of the former. 
Even the securing of good conditions, and the providing 
of the best material, must, little by little, be under- 
taken by the individual himself. Indeed, this duty is 
one of the most satisfactory and pleasant means of 
securing the desired end. To put responsibility upon 
a person, by authority, is almost certain to develop 
self-control and self-dependence in him. 

Following the order of development already set forth, 
we may say that control during the first period should be 
of the nature of an educative despotism. The utter help- 
lessness of the child, as to directing its own actions so as 
to further its well-being, makes it necessary that others 
should take the entire responsibility of ordering its life. 

During this period is the only time when the indi- 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 239 

vicinal should, as a general rule, be entirely subject to 
the influence and control of the educator. Subject the 
child, must be, either to the unorganised, influences of 
its surroundings, or to these influences definitely or- 
ganised to aid its development. The absence of physical 
and mental power places it at the mercy of any and 
every passing influence, whether this be for its greatest 
good or harm, unless some educational sponsor guards 
and guides it. 

Herbart declares that : " The child enters the world 

without a will of its own At first, instead of a 

true will, which renders the child capable of determina- 
tion, there is only a wild impetuosity, impelling it 
hither and thither, a principle of disorder, disturbing 
the plans of the adults, and placing the future per- 
sonality of the child itself in manifold dangers. This 

impetuosity must be subdued Subjection is 

brought about by force, and the force must be sufficiently 
strong, and often enough repeated, to compass this 
subjection, before any trace of a true will is manifested 
in the child. The principles of practical philosophy 
require this." 

Hence the need and the justification of this despotic 
form of educational government. But even so this is 
only allowable as a means of securing the brief con- 
ditions for producing, and until there has been pro- 
duced, such a development in the individual as enables 
him to do without it. It must, therefore, be a con- 
stantly decreasing power. It is a means, and not an 
end. As Professor Rein says: "Government, there- 
fore, aims to attain no direct end whatever in the mind 



240 EDUCATION 

of the child, but will only produce order ; it aims to be 
felt as a power that is concerned with nothing further 
than the enforcement of its measures." 

As we have already seen, the highest form of volun- 
tary willing is a development from the involuntary form, 
in which it is, for all practical purposes, wholly deter- 
mined by external influences. It is the educator's 
duty to be the most powerful, purposeful, and helpful, 
of the influences which are affecting the development 
of the mind at this early period. 

If done in a thoroughly sympathetic manner — with a 
full knowledge of the needs of the child, and a wise and 
generous satisfying of them — this kind of control gives 
the greatest possible pleasure and profit to the little 
one, and is a bond of union between educator and 
pupil, which makes for the happiness of both. The 
egoistic feelings of the child will attach him very 
closely to one who ministers so fully and constantly to 
his comfort and well-being. 

Inasmuch as the will is very much influenced by the 
feelings, and the feelings are very stong and active in 
this stage, they offer a powerful means of controlling 
the will. It will, therefore, be allowable to gratify the 
child's love of pleasure, by giving, as rewards for effort 
and success, such things as sweets, and toys. But great 
care must be taken that this does not grow into 
corruption and bribery. It must not be that these 
things are given so as to get the child to do its work, 
but merely as generous and occasional recognitions of 
work well done. Unless this be so the influence will 
be vicious, and the resulting development undesirable. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 241 

To aim at the control of a child merely for the sake of 
control is as despicable as it is dangerous. It is a 
mean and petty triumph to subdue a tender and help- 
less child to one's will, by physical, or other, intimida- 
tion • but it is a noble success to exert a reasonable 
control and guidance over the young, solely with a view 
to furthering their happiness and progress. 

The effects of control, for control's sake, are almost 
certain to be repression, constraint, helplessness, and a 
want of originality, initiation, confidence, and self- 
respect. The results of sympathetic control are likely 
to be the very opposites of these. 

In the second great period of development control 
should be more of the nature of educative co-operation. 
The child is beginning to realise, in a practical sense, 
its own powers and importance; its physical self 
demands recognition ; and it, therefore, no longer re- 
quires, enjoys, or profits by, a complete surrender of 
its individuality to that of another. There is still need 
of the most thorough and complete guidance and con- 
trol ; but the spirit and form of these must change. 

The child has now got beyond the time for spoon- 
meat, and can feed itself, though it is still unable to 
provide and prepare its own food. These altered con- 
ditions in the powers of the child must be met with 
altered conditions in the attitude of the educator. It 
is no longer a case for the imperative, but for the 
indicative, mood in authority, as the general rule. 
Not that the imperative suddenly and wholly disappears, 
but that it is gradually supplanted by the indicative. 
The educator should be more of the ministering angel 



242 EDUCATION 

than the master at this stage, though he must still be 
both. 

Sympathetic control now means that " the teacher 
enters into the feelings of the pupil, and, without per- 
mitting it to be noticed, joins in them with tact, or he 
takes care that the feelings of the pupil can approach 
his own in some particular way ; this is more difficult, 
but must nevertheless be combined with the other, 
because only when it is possible for the pupil to unite 
his activity in some way or other with the teacher's 
can he contribute force of his own to the relationship 
between them " (Herbart). 

Leading, rather than commanding, must now be the 
attitude of the educator. The native energy and in- 
quisitiveness of the child renders unnecessary anything 
more than the control of wise guiding, in most things. 
Whilst the nature of the individual will compel a general 
agreement between its* own development and that of 
others, it will not the less require freedom for, and 
assistance in, the development of personal peculiarities, 
more or less important and predominant. Anything 
like a too mechanical or exclusive control is, therefore, 
likely to prove mischievous and dangerous. 

At this stage of development the stronger sentiments 
of the child must be enlisted on the side of the edu- 
cator. The child is beginning to know and appreciate 
the importance of the goodwill and help of others in 
increasing the amount and fulness of its pleasures and 
well-being. Its feelings of gratitude and affection are 
lively and strong, and it is always quick to exercise 
these towards those who have any real claim upon them. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 24o 

Whatever actions of the child are due to such feelings 
will have a very high value as developing influences, 
for they will be of the nature of self-activity. There is 
an evident expression of the self in all actions due to 
feelings of gratitude and affection. The suggestion 
may, and in early life often must, come from without, 
but the motive which leads to, and sustains, action will 
be entirely from within. Hence, to the learner, it will 
appear that he is working out his desires to please his 
teacher, not that he is doing something simply because 
the teacher tells him to do it. The personal character 
of the educator is, therefore, of the greatest moment. A 
fondness for, keen sympathy with, and full knowledge 
of, children are qualifications of the first order in a 
teacher; for they are direct and powerful agencies of 
control. 

Again, the feelings of respect, admiration, and shame, 
may all be called forth in the interests of the educating 
process by the fairness and justice, the learning and 
capacity, and the sorrow and disgust at wrongdoing, of 
the educator. That these are by no means fanciful con- 
clusions forced out of psychological truths, is well seen 
in the almost worship and devotion which boys give to 
a master who has a great reputation for sports or 
athletics, or even for deep scholarship. Older boys will 
render willing service to such, and will insist that their 
juniors do the like. 

Control is never so complete or effective as when it 
is secured through stimulating and ministering to the 
proper feelings and desires of persons. The history of 
the influence of the leaders of great movements in the 



244 EDUCATION 

past gives convincing and conclusive evidence of this. 
The educator should, therefore, seek to exert every 
legitimate influence of this kind. It is of little use to 
urge upon young children that they should be good — 
which they can only understand in a very concrete 
sense — because it is so good to be good — which they 
can hardly understand at all. Even the greatest of 
moral teachers said : "If ye love me, keep my com- 
mandments." 

Besides making use of the growing sentiments of the 
child as means of control, the educator may still con- 
tinue to appeal to its lively sense of pleasure. Rewards, 
under the restrictions previously suggested, are still 
lawful means of stimulating the activity of the learner. 
These should, however, be on a higher plane than 
formerly. Special private and public expressions of 
approval ought to be very acceptable, and encouraging, 
to those whose sense of self is becoming assertive. 

Material rewards are also admissible ; but they must 
satisfy and assist the higher development, by giving 
opportunities for its exercise. Simple working models 
of machines, sets of tools, objects of interest — such as 
a small case of native butterflies — holiday excursions 
for geographical and historical purposes, social enter- 
tainments mainly managed by the scholars, and the 
like, may be made as profitable as pleasurable. 

The practical universality of this principle amongst 
human beings is shown by such proverbial sayings as : 
" Reward sweetens labour," and " Nothing succeeds 
like success." The stimulating effect of the concrete 
results of successful effort, and the demoralising results 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 245 

of failures, are obvious to all. With the child these 
elements, like many others, need to be more or less 
artificially emphasised. 

Emulation is apt to prove a dangerous instrument at 
this point, owing to its liability to become purely per- 
sonal, since the child is unable to sufficiently appreciate 
the remote and abstract results of competition. Hence 
it has a tendency to bring about many of the evils 
which a proper control seeks to avoid, e.g., jealousy, ill- 
feeling, and personal conflict. 

Too much care cannot be taken in preventing such 
exceptional influences from becoming forms of bribery. 
They ought always to involve more or less of the un- 
expected and undeserved, in the sense that they are 
generous additions to the ordinary and sufficient out- 
comes of activity. 

Demonstration is one of the most powerful means of 
control in the latter part of this period. There is a 
native desire for a knowledge of the practical reasons 
for things, which applies as much to educational 
matters as to others. If the intelligent pupil is led to 
see that all educational processes are designed for his 
personal advantage, he will be likely to render a more 
complete, loyal, and constant, co-operation in the work. 

Milton in his " Tractate on Education " most wisely 
urges that " to season them, and win them early to the 
love of vertue and true labour, ere any flattering 
seducement, or vain principle seise them wandering, 
some easie and delightful book of education would be 
read to them." Whilst theoretical ideas about educa- 
tion would be better reserved till later, the giving of 



246 EDUCATION 

concrete reasons and rules may very profitably be begun 
at this stage. 

" Assuming that the pupil has already a lively sense 
of the gain which intellectual guidance brings him, and 
of the loss which he will suffer from every deprivation, 
or, indeed, diminution of it, he may then be shown that 
as a condition of the continuance of this guidance, a 
perfectly stable relationship is requisite, which can be 
calculated upon in all instances ; and that the teacher 
must be able to confidently assume there will toe instant 
obedience as soon as he has ground for requiring it. 
There is now no question at all of mere blind obedience; 
that is not consistent with any friendly relationship. 
But everywhere there occur cases in which only one 
can decide, and the others must follow without opposi- 
tion. This nevertheless must be followed at the first 
opportunity by an explanation why that decision was 
arrived at and no other, so that the pupil's future 
judgment may meet the command halfway. Conviction 
of the necessity of subordination must therefore concede 
what the teacher for himself would not dare to ask " 
(Herbart). 

Now is the time when the processes of education 
themselves become the best means of control. If any- 
thing be true, it must be the fact that when a person is 
being vigorously developed according to the best model 
and under the most favourable conditions, his energy is 
therein fully occupied, his efforts directed to that end, 
his general needs and desires best satisfied, and his whole 
being completely harmonised with its surroundings. 
This is control of the most thorough and ideal kind. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 247 

Mr. H. G. Wells has very happily expressed the ele- 
ment of co-operation. He says : " The teacher and the 
child should agree, as Tennyson says of man and woman, 
'like perfect music unto noble words,' and our ( sympathy ' 
means, not coincidence, but the capacity for co-operation." 

Putting the matter from the boy's standpoint, 
Herbart argues that : " Everything must appear to the 
boy as his work ; he must wish to feel he has himself 
to thank for his improvement. The years from ten to 
fourteen, when the boy feels intensely he must be 
educated, are very important. If these are neglected, 
formation by education is lost: earlier, from the sixth 
year onward, it is difficult to awake and maintain this 
spirit in the child." 

For the third great stage of development a change of 
attitude is again necessary. Co-operation, in the some- 
what limited sense of guiding and controlling co- 
operation, must gradually give place to what we may 
call educative suggestion. Even demonstration must 
also give place to suggestion, as frequently as may be ; 
for the pqwer of applying knowledge ought to be 
sufficiently ready and correct to make the need of 
demonstration much less frequent than formerly ; and 
the growth of the power of willing, and the realisation 
of the self, are likely to make the individual intolerant 
of experiencing much that suggests his subjection to 
guidance and control. 

At this point the chief duty of the educator is to 
supply good material, or to indicate where it can be 
best obtained. Lectures, text-books, illustrations and 
the like, will be convenient sources of supply. It is 



248 EDUCATION 

still most important that the material should be supplied 
in its most educative form, i.e., under favourable condi- 
tions, and in a scientifically dependent and connected 
manner. Educational principles ought to be carefully 
observed as to the nature and arrangement of the 
information contained in text-books, lectures, and the 
like. 

Now has come the time when the educator should 
find the greatest success of his work, in the pupil's 
ability to look after his own education. The fruition of 
the educator's efforts is the self-educator. The pre- 
dominant development of willing, and the strength of a 
well-informed and vigorous judgment, will need such a 
self-dependence for their highest and best work, and 
they will demand it. It will almost certainly be 
secured in some way or another, and in some one of 
several forms, legitimate or otherwise. 

There are few things more mischievous, and often 
disastrous, than for the educator, whether of the domestic, 
religious, or scholastic order, to endeavour to make his 
own will take the place, and do the duty, of that of the 
learner. This kind of action is generally the pride and 
pleasure of the masterful individual who more or less 
crushes other wills to assert and exalt his own. Not 
that personal influence should be denied its proper 
effects, but that it should not be enforced — except at 
special periods, for right ends, and in a reasonable 
manner — by any authority* or power not derived from its 
own nature ; and even this may be excessive and pre- 
judicial. Forms of slavery, even if benevolent, are likely 
to produce helpless dependents, parasites, and rebels. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 249 

Helpful guidance and co-operation are still indis- 
pensable, but they should, in most instances, come in 
the form of suggestive information and advice. Even 
the old forms of co-operation and command will be not 
infrequently necessary, but they must be used with the 
pupil's free consent, or at his request. There must be 
a putting away of childish things, and a putting on of 
the responsibilities and self-dependence of manhood, on 
the part of the learner. 

To subject the will, during this period of special 
development, to an overwhelming restraint, and a con- 
fined sphere of action, is just the way to deprive it of 
the power and readiness which it will most want when 
such restraint is no longer possible. Without doubt 
many characters have been wrecked through an over- 
solicitude to shield and safeguard them. Crutches assist, 
and may help to cure, the lame, but they only cumber, 
and may cripple, the healthy. 

As we have before pointed out, the want of sufficient 
exercise leads to a loss of power and skill, and may 
finally result in a loss of function. And this is as true 
of a part as of the whole. To stop short of the condi- 
tions necessary for the highest development of the 
power of willing is to run the risk of losing it, and, 
certainly, to very much prejudice it. 

Eeasonable self-dependence is one of the finest 
attributes of man, and forms one of the foundation- 
stones of his place in nature. It involves self-command 
and self-control, and is based upon those habits which 
have most general influence, and which are themselves 
the outcome of carefully selected and constantly re- 



250 EDUCATION 

peated efforts. There is such a control of the thoughts, 
feelings, and actions that they can, as a rule, be so 
organised, and related to systems of ideas and ideals, 
as to give the very best chance for the realisation of 
our desires. 

Self-activity, in the educational sense, has its origin 
in this higher stage of willing. The activity based 
upon self-dependent judgment and willing is the ex- 
pression of character and individuality. The power and 
quality of the self-activity of the learner at this period, 
is generally according to the wisdom and effectiveness 
of the previous education. 

Herbart declares that "in the pupil's seventeenth 
year education proper is impossible, or at most only 
possible in those who see what they have missed, and 
in whom the wish to submit themselves to education is 
keen. This feeling, however, will not last long, at 
least not beyond the time that they feel they can carry 
on their education for themselves." 

Now that the mind has the power of appreciating 
the meaning and value of scientific principles, the will 
is very greatly influenced by the mental conviction that 
certain effects can only be obtained through special 
conditions, if we wish to have them in their best forms, 
and to get them in the easiest way. Consequently 
there should now be a direct and explicit appeal to the 
reason, in the form oc critical judgment, as the motive 
for continuing education, chiefly if not solely, through 
self-effort — so soon as this appears to be possible. For 
this there must be sufficient self-dependence, knowledge, 
skill, and power. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 251 

An elementary text-book on the theory of education 
may be studied by the learner at this stage ; and he 
ought to derive as much advantage therefrom as an 
artisan would from an intelligent study of a book on 
the theory of hfs trade. In any case very great advan- 
tage would be derived from a careful study of the prin- 
ciples of logic — the science of valid thought. There 
are the same reasons for the self-educator to have this 
sort of knowledge as for the educator of others to possess 
it. It will also do something to satisfy that desire to 
know and understand the self which begins to take 
form in later youth. 

The principal influences by which the will can be 
affected at this period are those sentiments which are 
most strongly developed about this time. The higher 
forms of respect, reverence, affection, love, and pride, 
are now present in greater or less degree in the learner, 
and may be stimulated and used as motives for self- 
education. Ambition, the desire for wealth, the search 
for happiness, the endeavour to escape the ills of life, 
and other like motives, will all appeal most strongly in 
favour of self-education, if the proper thoughts and 
feelings can be aroused. 

Emulation is now allowable, if the value of compe- 
tition as a stimulus is understood, and the fruits of the 
struggle are sought in personal progress and increase 
of knowledge, and not in the mere triumph over another. 
Self-approval, based on right moral principles, should 
be a powerful stimulus. " To thine own self be true'' 
is now one of the highest and best motives, so long as 
the self has been well developed, and has high aims. 



252 EDUCATION 

Studious youths will generally be found to have 
some strong motive underlying and sustaining their 
earnestness and perseverance ; such as the hope of 
securing scholastic success, the desire to please their 
parents, or the keen personal pleasure derived from the 
study of a particular subject. In these cases it is 
clearly the desire to realise one's own idea, or ideal, 
i.e., some form of the self, which is the all-important 
element. This attitude toward effort is appropriate to 
this stage of mental development, desirable in itself, and 
likely to produce the greatest and best results. 

But even in this growth of self-dependence there are 
the usual stages of gradual increase of self-reliance and 
self-confidence. Not all at once does the individual 
order all his actions entirely according to his own judg- 
ments and inclinations. There will be many occasions 
when feelings of helplessness and ignorance will lead 
to requests for guidance and assistance ; when failure 
will cause a willingness to submit to even despotic 
control ; or when partial success will bring an eagerness 
to receive co-operative aid. 

An extremely interesting illustration of the kind of 
progress involved is found in a method used for train- 
ing blind persons in finding their own way about their 
homes and surroundings. There is first the leading 
by linking of arms ; then the blind person holds the 
end of a stick ; next a piece of string is used ; after 
this the only help obtained is by listening to the foot- 
steps of another ; and, finally, the learner is left to 
himself, and told to fold his left arm across his breast, 
as some protection in case of a collision, and use the 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 253 

right hand to explore the space just in front of 
him. 

In this system the gradual decrease of external help 
is very ingeniously contrived, and the result is a growth 
of confidence and skill in self-dependence. Some such 
features will be found in the ordinary development of 
youthful independence ; and, therefore, the educator 
may become the guide, philosopher, and friend of the 
self-educator. 

Throughout every stage of development, and in all 
the separate departments of each, there should be a move- 
ment appropriate to the imitative, practical, or rational 
character of the development, from what is, practically, 
complete dependence on others to a lessening depend- 
ence, then a gradual approach to partial self-depend- 
ence, which slowly increases until there is com- 
plete self-dependence, in the sense which we have set 
forth. 

At the end of each period, and each important 
department of it, there should be an attempt to obtain 
from the pupil an expression of his highest powers 
with regard to the subject in hand. These will be best 
shown in the ability to invent more or less original 
designs, exercises, and the like. Thus little children 
of six years of age sometimes produce extremely 
effective and clever designs in kindergarten drawing ; 
some girls and boys in the higher classes of elementary 
schools for older scholars write excellent fairy stories or 
other literary compositions ; and both girls and boys 
invent and execute new models in cardboard-work, 
wood-work, and metal-work. Children of all ages can 



254 EDUCATION 

be educated up to the ability to write, and work, their 
own exercises in arithmetic. 

These efforts show most conclusively that self-activity 
and self-dependence in their best forms have been 
secured, and that the learner is in the best possible 
condition for further progress. 

Education should now have accomplished its purpose. 
Educational development ought now to be supplanted by 
self-development. Self-activity, self-dependence, self- 
knowledge, self-control, and self-criticism ought to 
characterise the life of the individual, who whilst using 
these powers for securing the fullest possible living of 
his own life, should, none the less, also regard them as 
the means of co-ordinating his life with those of his 
fellows, without whom his own life and powers would 
be sadly wanting in fulness and richness. 

Herbart says : " The young child is not yet capable 
of valuing the benefit of education. A boy of twelve 
years, rightly guided from early childhood, prizes it 
above everything, from his deep sense of the need of 
guidance. The youth of sixteen begins to take on 
himself the teacher's work ; he has partly appropriated 
his point of view, he accepts it, and marks out for him- 
self his course accordingly; he manages himself and 
compares this self-treatment with that which contin- 
uously fell to his lot from the teacher. It must be 
so — for he who knows himself best and looks through 
himself most directly, will, at times, see with greater 
clearness, than he who always remains another person. 
It must be so — for he feels himself unnecessarily 
constrained, and his obedience transforms itself more 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 255 

and more into forbearance to the benefactor of earlier 
years 

" Moreover, it is now of supreme importance that the 
principles become perfectly formed and purified, which 
will henceforth rule the life. Instruction, therefore, 
will still continue, after discipline has almost dis- 
appeared. But further, instruction no longer touches 
a merely receptive mind ; the pupil will himself judge. 
To the end that he may examine, he begins by 
doubting. That he may be free from his embarrassing 
confinement within his habitual circle of thought, 
he enters the sphere of other opposing opinions. Little 
differences of views, which gradually arise and have 
hitherto remained unnoticed, acquire voice and growth 
under the favouring influence of strange impressions, to 
which the charm of novelty gives force 

"What will now protect the toilsome work of educa- 
tion ? What ought to protect it ? What, if not its 
inner rightness, the truth of convictions, the clearness 
and breadth of the intellectual gaze, if not the feeling 
of mastery over men and opinions, and the responsive 
inward gratitude for that care which has rendered such 
an ascendency possible ? " 

Comenius very happily expresses the connection 
between the principles of stimulation, interest, inter- 
relation, pleasure, sympathetic control, and pain (see 
next section) in the following passage: " If subjects of 
study are rightly arranged and taught, they them- 
selves attract and allure all save very exceptional 
natures ; and if they are not rightly taught, the 
fault is in the teacher, not the pupil. Moreover, if 



256 EDUCATION 

we do not know how to allure by skill, we shall 
certainly not succeed by the application of mere 
force. There is no power in stripes and blows 
to excite a love of literature, but a great power, on the 
contrary, of generating weariness and disgust. A 
musician does not dash his instrument against a wall, 
or give it blows and cuffs, because he cannot draw 
music from it, but continues to apply his skill till 
he extracts a melody. So by our skill we have to bring 
the minds of the young into harmony, and to the love of 
studies, if we are not to make the careless unwilling and 
the torpid stolid. A spur and stimulus are often 
needed, but a sharp word or a public reproof or the 
praise of others who are doing well, will generally 
suffice." 

The Principle of Pain. — There can hardly be any doubt 
that pain has a very valuable part to play in the 
economy of nature. It is, so to speak, the sentinel 
which nature sets to give the alarm when enemies are 
beginning to attack our bodily kingdom and endanger 
our sovereignty. Also it is the adverse criticism of 
nature upon our methods of dealing with her. Again, 
it is nature's way of punishing the folly, ignorance, or 
viciousness of the individual. Not less is it the inevit- 
able outcome of the ordinary conditions of the universe, 
of which the individual is the unfortunate victim. 
Certainly nature is by no means sparing in the use of 
this terribly potent and all too familiar penalty. 

From another point of view pain may be regarded 
as a necessary discipline against itself. Since pain is 
inevitable man must be prepared to meet it. Often the 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 257 

only possible preventive of severe suffering is a milder 
form of it. This may be exemplified by the suffering 
endured through vaccination as a means of resisting, or 
reducing, the pains to which one is liable in a small-pox 
epidemic. 

Perhaps we may even look upon pain as, up to a 
certain point, the sauce of life, which adds relish and 
piquancy to what might otherwise be a dead sea of 
sweetness. In any case it has taken, and is taking, a 
large part, whether for good or evil, in the development 
of the race and the individual. 

Whilst, as we have insisted, the conditions referred 
to under the principle of sympathetic control ought to 
be sufficient under ordinary conditions, there are, un- 
fortunately, extraordinary conditions which must be 
taken into account and provided for. The mind is as 
much subject to disorders, diseases, infections, accidents, 
incompleteness, malformations, and so on, as the body. 
There is, therefore, need for preventive and curative 
agents. The good forms of development have to be 
strengthened and improved, and the bad forms must be 
removed or repressed. 

Just as in the case of the body it is found advan- 
tageous to voluntarily endure considerable suffering 
with the hope of escaping a very much more serious 
amount, so it is sometimes expedient to inflict mental 
pain with a view to prevent the continuing of such lines 
of thought or action as are morally certain to bring 
about results which will involve far greater and more 
permanent forms of mental suffering. 

It cannot, however, too often, or too earnestly, be 

R 



258 EDUCATION 

insisted upon that only when all other means have 
really failed should auy kind of pain be purposely 
employed. And this because it is in itself a mischievous 
and dangerous influence. It is a destructive force for 
preventing, if possible, still further destruction ; and a 
corrupting influence used to defeat still more corrupt- 
ing influences. It may be compared to those poisons 
which, when skilfully used for medicinal purposes, tend 
to secure health instead of causing death. 

Pain, as such, interferes with and prejudices the 
general movement of life ; blunts, and, maybe, destroys 
some of the more delicate elements of the mind : 
represses and checks the development of the self : and 
disturbs, if it does not destroy, that friendly relation 
between the teacher and the pupil which is so necessary 
to the success of the educative processes. All pain 
does this, to some extent, and how much more is it 
likely to result from pain inflicted by one who can for- 
bear giving it, and whose kindly intention it is often 
almost impossible for the victim to appreciate. 

Very serious responsibility, therefore, rests upon the 
person who employs pain as an agent in education. He 
must be convinced, upon reasonable grounds, that he 
has rightly estimated the facts of the case : that the 
result is likely to be the decided advantage of the 
individual : and that he is making use of the best 
remedy. Most people will admit that it is not easy to 
satisfy these requirements. Indeed it is sometimes 
impossible, and the only thing that can be done is to 
trust to one's intuition at the moment ; but this should 
only be done in cases of extreme urgency. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 259 

Of the means by which the educator can assure him- 
self that it is necessary to use pain as an agent of pre- 
vention or reform, we can say little here. This is a 
matter which comes under the method rather than the 
theory of education. But we may point out that much 
psychological knowledge, an extensive acquaintance with 
and knowledge of the individual, and some acquaintance 
with the pathology of the mind and body, are required 
for thoroughly intelligent and scientific action in the 
matter. Too often it is the case that young people are, 
through ignorance, subjected to treatment which only 
aggravates their disorders, or even produces new ones. 
Supplant rather than suppress, or, suppress by sup- 
planting, is the golden rule. 

There is, it is true, a certain amount of traditional 
and accurate knowledge about the more common con- 
ditions which seem to demand the use of pain. As an 
example we may refer to the fact of the use of corporal 
punishment often being successful in checking acts of 
cruelty, when all other means have failed — it is even 
said to be effective with adult criminals, who have been 
guilty of robbery with assault. 

But in every separate instance of such cases there are 
generally many special features which need to be taken 
account of, if we are to treat the case successfully. It 
is necessary, therefore, that we should, as far as possible, 
be able to trace the evil to its real source, and to 
detect all its important special features. Until this is 
done, very little is possible in the way of remedy. 

Having traced an evil to its origin, we then want a 
knowledge of its ordinary development, if left to itself, 



260 EDUCATION 

and its natural termination. Also we must know what 
influences most* affect the mischievous activities, how 
they affect them, and what is likely to be the order of 
events when they are systematically applied. Only 
when so equipped can we hope to be able to really 
grapple with the evils. 

Speaking generally, we shall expect to find that 
there will be disorders of willing, knowing, and feeling. 
In willing there may be that permanent violence of 
activity which is known as obstinacy, or the occasional 
excess which we term rashness. Or we may have to 
deal with the opposite extremes of want of resolution 
and consistency. The control of thoughts and feelings 
may be very weak, so that there is chronic inattention, 
frivolity, and the like. Laziness is often the evidence 
of a general weakness of will. 

Sometimes the power of knowing, in the sense of 
quickly taking account of experiences and trains of 
thought, is extremely keen, and apt to be superficial ; 
whilst the thorough assimilation which is necessary for 
full and clear retention is proportionally weak. On the 
other hand, the grasp of an idea may be so thorough 
and fixed, but perverted, that it amounts to a delusion ; 
and this might grow into monomania. Carelessness, 
inaccuracy, and certain elements of ignorance, involve 
weaknesses in the powers of knowing and willing. 

In the feelings we may find the excesses which lead 
to the various forms of passion, or the defects which are 
shown in a lack of enjoyment and relish of those 
influences usually employed, with success, to stimulate 
the receiving activities. Hence come violent anger, 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 261 

hysterical enthusiasm, despair, unresponsiveness, in- 
difference, inactivity, and so on. The sentiments may 
be perverted, and excessive or defective in their action. 
Thus we get viciousness, idolatry, and absence of 
sympathetic qualities. 

Whenever such defects cannot be remedied by any 
of the positive and pleasurable forms of educative 
influences, then it will be necessary to make use of the 
negative and painful agencies. 

Of course we must not expect that the disorders will 
usually, or even often, be of a simple kind. There 
will always be elements of disorder of willing, knowing, 
and feeling in every case of fault ; and the only 
instances of comparative simplicity will be those in 
which one of the powers is very predominantly at fault, 
whilst the others are very subordinately so. Often 
there will be a more or less serious, because more or 
less unanalysable, complexity in the disorders. Such 
cases will require very great knowledge, skill, and care 
in their treatment. 

Little need be said about those physical disorders 
which are the source of, or very much increase, certain 
mental complaints. It is only necessary that the 
educator should have a sufficiently intelligent know- 
ledge of them to know which are the more common of 
them, and when they are probably present ; and, there- 
fore, when a medical man should be called in. 

The first aim should be to prevent diseases. There 
should be what we may call a system of mental, as 
well as physical, hygiene ; which would consist in the 
careful and complete observance of all the principles 



262 EDUCATION 

which secure the best development of an individual. 
When, in spite of all our efforts to prevent them, 
diseases arise, as they will arise, our efforts must be 
directed to removing- the causes, and the effects already- 
produced ; or, we must endeavour so to influence the 
diseases as to reduce their ill effects to the lowest 
possible amount. 

As to deciding whether the result will be to the 
advantage of the patient : this is also a matter in which 
certain traditional views may be taken as guides, 
whilst in other cases personal judgment based upon the 
considerations mentioned above must settle the ques- 
tion, or the opinions of experienced experts may be 
accepted. 

We may classify the pain agencies under three 
heads : the infliction of specific forms of painful ex- 
periences — whether these be artificially imposed, or 
allowed to arise out of a course of wrong actions — all 
forms of compulsion, and all kinds of restraint. These 
may be applied either in the sphere of the reason, the 
feelings, or the senses. Censure, sarcasm, and tasks to 
be learnt, are means of causing rational discomfort. 
Making individuals appear ridiculous, refusing to con- 
tinue general and pleasant relations, enforcing dis- 
tasteful duties, and declining to accept usual tributes 
of affection or esteem, are methods of affecting the 
feelings and sentiments uncomfortably. Manual im- 
positions, confinement, denying favourite foods, drinks 
and toys, and beating, are disagreeable sense experi- 
ences. 

Many of such forms of pain are brought about 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 263 

through the ordinary actions of the individual. All 
kinds of physical pains are being constantly inflicted 
through ignorance or wilfulness in action ; feelings are 
distressed through the loss of the sympathy or esteem 
of others ; and intellectual suffering is caused when 
conceit and folly produce humiliating failure. 

Like Rousseau, Mr. Herbert Spencer, in his book on 
education, raises the question whether, after all, arti- 
ficial methods of inflicting pain are necessary, and, 
therefore, justifiable. He points out that the infliction 
of pain by one person upon another is sure to produce 
a feeling of resentment on the part of the victim. 
After giving detailed illustrations of the " discipline of 
natural consequences," he urges the following in favour 
of it: 

" First ; that it gives that rational knowledge of 
right and wrong conduct which results from personal 
experience of their good and bad consequences. 
Second; that the child, suffering nothing more than 
the painful effects of its own wrong actions, must 
recognise more or less clearly the justice of the 
penalties. Third ; that recognising the justice of the 
penalties, and receiving them through the working of 
things rather than at the hands of an individual, its 
temper is less disturbed ; while the parent fulfilling the 
comparatively passive duty of letting the natural 
penalties be felt, preserves a comparative equanimity. 
Fourth ; that mutual exasperations being thus pre- 
vented, a much happier, and a more influential 
relation, will exist between parent and child." 

Now, while it is absolutely essential that the 



264 EDUCATION 

" discipline of consequences " should be, and must 
always be from the nature of the case, realised by the 
individual, yet it is another thing to say that this is 
the only good method, or the best. If the infliction of 
pain is regarded only as a penal or a retributive matter, 
then such a theory might be regarded as satisfactory. 
But in education we regard pain as a preventive, 
reformative, and curative agent. From this point of 
view there is as much reason, and justification, for 
interfering in mental as in physical irregularities. 

It is true that the learner will be corrected, sooner or 
later, by natural consequences ; but it is equally true 
that he would be generally educated, sooner or later, if 
left alone. If, therefore, artificial education by the 
reasoned and systematic application of pleasurable con- 
ditions be justifiable, not less is education through pain 
reasonable, when the necessity for it arises. It is not 
simply education that is required, but the best education 
in the shortest time. 

Again, it has been very forcibly urged that the 
necessity for interfering so as to prevent the too 
serious consequeuces which would often arise, may 
easily lead to the child regarding the parent or teacher 
as one who is setting traps for it, or at least as being 
adversely neutral. To this may be added the criticism 
that any very striking natural consequences, especially 
in certain intellectual faults, are so long in coming that 
irreparable mischief may have been done before the 
necessity for reform is realised. Also, the machinery 
of a system of education creates special conditions 
which need special remedies. We cannot afford to 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 265 

wait for courses of wrong actions to work themselves 
out. 

But Mr. Herbert Spencer himself allows the necessity 
for other means. He says : " During infancy a consider- 
able amount of absolutism is necessary. A three-year- 
old urchin playing with an open razor, cannot be allowed 
to learn by this discipline of consequences ; for the 
consequences may be too serious. But as intelligence 
increases, the number of peremptory interferences may 
be, and should be, diminished ; with the view of 
gradually ending them as maturity is approached." 

The discipline of consequences should be employed 
as often as possible, in its natural form, and should be 
the model for all artificial methods of inflicting pain for 
educational purposes. The pain should, as far as 
possible, be of the same nature as that which would 
ordinarily arise if there were no personal interference. 
Also it should be clearly understood that a certain 
action, or series of actions, will be inevitably followed 
by a given form of discipline. 

When the use of pain is necessary, the mildest, most 
refined, and what we may call the highest, forms should 
first be tried. Even these should be employed with 
hesitation, and the descent to lower forms ought to be 
undertaken very reluctantly. Only as the last resource 
of last resources should the infliction of blows upon the 
body be made use of ; for it is, more or less, brutal in 
its nature and brutalising in its effects. This should 
even be the last method employed with the brute beasts; 
as, indeed, it seems to be the last way in which they 
correct each other. 



266 EDUCATION 

Our aim should always be to gain an educational 
result with, the least possible friction, or disturbance. 
At the best, the use of pain is a very expensive way of 
obtaining educational good ; it is worse than foolish, 
therefore, to omit any means, or opportunity, of lessen- 
ing its amount and frequency. 

It is somewhat unfortunate that the term " corporal 
punishment" has been confined to caning, birching, 
strapping, or hitting. There are many other forms of 
bodily punishment, such as : pinching, shaking, postur- 
ing, long-continued drilling, and depriving of food. In 
fact there are comparatively few forms of ordinary 
punishment which do not involve bodily pains. All 
such are of the same class ; and some of the latter are 
even more objectionable than the former. 

Use pain for the purpose of lessening, if not abolish- 
ing, pain, should be the watchword of the educator. 

Not only are sarcasm, contempt, bullying, threaten 
ing, and punishing, entirely unjustifiable in them- 
selves, under ordinary circumstances, but they defeat 
their own ends in the long run. They are extreme 
measures, and to employ them for common events is to 
waste energy on such, and to deprive the means of the 
elements of effectiveness — severity and rareness. There 
are no resources for serious and critical cases if extra- 
ordinary measures are employed for ordinary purposes. 
The chief conditions for success in the control of others 
are definiteness, decision, and a reasonable persistence 
in applying the principles of sympathetic control. 

Some General Remarks. — It is very necessary to re- 
cognise the fact that whilst without a scientific system 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 267 

of education there is very great loss in the extent and 
fulness in the development of an individual, yet it is 
possible so to over-elaborate educative processes and 
conditions that they become a burden, and, therefore, 
an obstacle to development. There are ways of trying 
to be helpful which only hinder. 

Much in the same way that undiluted milk from the 
cow cannot be properly assimilated by an infant, and it 
may practically starve on too rich a diet, so also the 
infant mind fails to be properly nourished by un- 
organised experiences. But the other side of the 
matter also applies. While it is necessary to dilute 
with water the milk for a child, yet the addition of too 
much water will lead to starvation ; similarly, the 
endeavour to make every little detail in education the 
subject of elaborate application of principles will result 
in confusion instead of clearness, and hindrance in 
place of help. 

Without pressing the analogy too far, it is probably 
correct to say that the evil of over-education is as 
serious as that of under-education, though immeasur- 
ably less common. Another good illustration of this 
truth is seen in the over-training of athletes, which 
results in weakness instead of strength. 

Aristotle, speaking of physical training, remarks : 
" The evil of excessive training in early years is 
strikingly proved by the example of Olympic victors ; 
for not more than two or three of them have gained a 
prize both as boys and as men ; their early training and 
severe gymnastic exercises exhausted their constitu- 
tions " (Dr. Jowett's translation). He also says : " Men 



268 EDUCATION 

ought not to labour at the same time with their minds 
and with their bodies ; for the two kinds of labour 
are opposed to one another, the labour of the body 
impedes the mind, and the labour of the mind the 
body." Of course more or less severe, continuous, and 
absorbing work is understood. 

There is confusion in too much detail as in too great 
complexity. An adult would realise this very clearly if 
a botanist began to explain to him what a plant was by 
speaking of its molecular organisation. Not too much, 
but just enough, of detail is what is required. Of course 
it is difficult to decide what is just enough. But we 
can fix upon a working average, and begin with this. 
Then if there is a lack of readiness in grasping the 
subject, we must go rather less fully into detail, until 
we find the required facility of understanding. If, on 
the other hand, there is prompt mastery, then greater 
detail of knowledge should be presented. 

The capacity of children in this respect will be best 
known through careful observation of their efforts when 
they are working in their own way and for their own 
ends. The principles of self-activity and doing, accom- 
plish more than helping development in themselves, 
they show us also how we can best help it. 

Again there should be great caution exercised as to 
the kind and number of truths which it is attempted 
to arrive at through one object, or class of objects. 
Though it is true that as a matter of fact everything 
involves, more or less remotely, every great principle 
of knowledge, yet it is neither expedient nor con- 
venient, even if it were possible, to try to get the 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 269 

beginner to realise this, in however concrete or practical 
a form. 

It must be remembered that it is only the person 
who has obtained knowledge of many principles through 
much experience of, and thought about, many different 
classes of things, who is able to realise, in a signifi- 
cant way, that everything is, more or less, in every- 
thing. 

Jacotot was quite right, philosophically, in insisting 
that " all is in all " ; but he was mistaken, practically, 
in trying to get complete knowledge of a subject from 
a very limited amount of its material. The intelligence 
can, when it has much knowledge, trace the relation of 
truths to each other in such a way as to find many 
truths in one fact. But though it is true, in such a 
sense, to say that all is in each, yet it is not true to 
say that all comes from each, in so far as the way 
in which we obtain our knowledge of separate truths 
is concerned. Some from all, before all in each, is 
nearer the truth. 

As a rule it will be well, at first, to make use 
of different, though closely related, sets of facts for 
demonstrating certain truths; and, afterwards, make 
use of the same material for showing that two — and 
later on, three — principles are involved. If there be 
any justification whatever for following the mental 
evolution of the race, there can be no doubt that this 
is the right way. 

One other suggestion may be indicated. Not every 
item of truth, or detail of development, is equally im- 
portant with the others. For example, it is usually 



270 EDUCATION 

better to understand the general law of friction than to 
know the actual amount of friction in one or two special 
cases ; and it is of greater benefit, in most cases, to 
develop all the senses to an average level in each case 
—that of sight and touch being higher than the others 
■ — than to specially train one and neglect the others. To 
endeavour to develop every power to the same extent 
may result in sacrificing the stronger powers through 
comparative neglect, and still farther weakening the 
weak powers through overstraining them. Such an 
harmonious proportion as is likely to be most effective 
must be striven for. 

Where all is emphatic there is no emphasis. To have 
too much effort given to each point is sometimes not 
to have enough given to them as a whole. Some 
rather amusing instances of this are seen in text-books 
which seek to impress the relative importance of the 
subject matter upon the reader by the use of six or 
seven different kinds of type, and three or four arrange- 
ments of paragraphs, on the same page ; and in the 
books of those students who underline nearly every 
word on the pages of their books with differently 
coloured inks or pencils, and then add short lines for 
the chiefest of all. 

There are truths and beauties which only the whole 
can give, just as there are those which only the parts 
possess. We must endeavour, so to speak, neither to 
lose the forest in a tree, nor the tree in a forest. 

The educator must, therefore, carefully observe the 
actual development of the learner, so that he may the 
better understand the problem, and make use of the 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 271 

development itself as a means of furthering its own 
progress. 

But in so doing, except in the case of individual 
education, he must beware of being misled by the 
exceptionally capable or deficient. For purposes of 
collective education it is the average individual who 
must be the standard. Whilst a musical genius may in 
childhood play like an angel and compose like a god, the 
ordinary person, after much training and effort, may 
only be able to play like a barrel-organ and compose 
like a machine, when an adult. 

It should be observed that each general principle of 
education is itself a subject to which the other principles 
are to be applied. Thus the principle of doing ought 
to be worked out according to the general principle of 
development, and the principles of interest, prepara- 
tion, repetition, pleasure, and pain (if necessary). Of 
course the two incompatible principles of pleasure and 
pain cannot be applied to each other, but the former 
should supplement, and supplant, the latter as much as 
possible. 

Aristotle pointed out the need of following the order 
of development in these words: "As the body is 
prior in order of generation to the soul, so the 
irrational is prior to the rational. The proof is that 
anger and will and desire are implanted in children 
from their very birth, but reason and understanding 
are developed as they grow older. Wherefore the care 
of the body ought to precede that of the soul, and the 
training of the appetitive part should follow ; none the 
less our care of it must be for the sake of the reason, and 



272 EDUCATION 

our care of the body for the sake of the soul." Again 
he says : " Now it is clear that in education habit must 
go before reason, and the body before the mind." 

The testimony of great teachers in support of the 
educational maxims discussed in this chapter is simply 
overwhelming ; in fact, the history of education is 
largely a record of the discovery and re- discovery, 
assertion and re-assertion, of them repeated over and 
over again. Thus Jacotot (1770-1840) in his famous 
paradox " all is in all " endeavours to proceed from the 
most simple and superficial knowledge about a given 
subject, step by step, to a most complete and exhaustive 
knowledge of the thing itself, and of all that is related 
to it, by means of analyses of ever-increasing fulness 
and depth. 

Basedow (1723-1790) over-elaborated the progress 
from the concrete to the abstract by ill-chosen and too 
detailed representations and imitations of scenes and 
actions. Everything was to begin with intuition or 
teaching by sight. He says; "A boy whose acutest 
faculties are his senses, and who has no perception of 
anything abstract must first of all be made acquainted 
with the world as it presents itself to the senses, Let 
this be shown him in nature herself, or, where this 
is impossible, in faithful drawings or models." 

Samuel Wilderspin, speaking of his early experiences 
and difficulties with infants, exclaims : " It was now 
evident that the senses of the children must be 
engaged, that the great secret of training them was to 
descend to their level, and become a child ; and that 
the error had been to expect in infancy what is only the 



GENEBAL PRINCIPLES 273 

product of after years " (Leitck, " Practical Educa- 
tionists "). Thus he arrives at the rule : From the 
simple to the complex. Comenius lays down as 
principles of guidance the assertions that : " Nature 
proceeds from the more easy to the more difficult ; " 
"Nature does not overweight itself, but is content with 
few things at a time ; " and, " Nature does all things 
uniformly" (Laurie). 

From among the more recent writers on practical 
education, we may quote Mr. Arthur Sidgwick and the 
late Mr. W. H. Widgery, in reference to the principle of 
doing. The former in his lecture on " Stimulus" says : 
"Another potent stimulus to thought and interest is 
supplied by getting the pupils, wherever it is possible, 
in however humble a department of knowledge, to share 
in anything like original research ; the boy may be set 
to find instances of a point of style or grammar for 
himself ; or if there is a mistake in his notes he may be 
made to correct it ; or, still more delightful, he may 
confute his master." 

Mr. Widgery writes : " I managed to get some 
algebra into the class this morning by making boys do 
a large number of examples in books, saving the 
answers, and then making them get the factors back- 
ward. They seemed to feel under a moral obligation to 
do what they knew had only just passed through their 
hands " (" Life of W. H. Widgery," by W. K. Hill). 

A good example of the working of the principle of 
sympathetic control is also given by Mr. Widgery. 
He writes: "I gave my boys plenty of rope to-day 
and let them ask me as many questions as they liked. 

S 



274 EDUCATION 

And wasn't I tired ? " His biographer says : " Once he 
made every boy in the class write down individually, 
(1) What had been his chief difficulty in learning 
Euclid's geometry ; and (2) How he would like to be 
taught the propositions it contained." 

Dr. Welldon has said : " If a boy did not know the 
nature of the sentence upon which he was engaged, 
there was little or no probability of his being able to 
convert it into correct Latin." Thus he recognises the 
maxim : from the known to the unknown. Professor 
L. C. Miall asserts that " Children, young people, and 
most men and women are more easily interested in 
what is actual and concrete than in what is theoretical 
and abstract." The same writer contends that " Sar- 
casm becomes base and cowardly when the power of 
retort is taken away .... the teacher must not use 
biting words." Mr. Thring says: "Force and pre- 
sumptuous superiority must be discarded for ever from 
the kingdom of life, and the learner's world. Educa- 
tion requires that the right object shall be pursued, and 

pursued in the right way The most complete 

definition of the right way is, the winning love by 
love." Dr. Abbott affirms that : " It is a pleasure to 
healthy children to move and to act ; and it must be 
the trainer's object not to suppress action but to regu- 
late it with a view to producing good habits." 

Canon Daniel has well said: "It is as unwise to 
withhold the rod in all cases as to prescribe it in all 
cases. Children sometimes grow so vicious through 
neglect, tbat they will not respond to the motives that 
actuate well-trained children, and in such cases severity 
becomes indispensable until higher influences gradually 
render it unnecessary." 



CHAPTER VI 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 

The consideration of the principal features of general 
mental development has prepared the way for dealing 
with one of the special elements which is particularly 
concerned with education. Since we regard the sys- 
tematic imparting of knowledge as the essential element 
for educational development, it is necessary that we 
should examine very closely into its nature, so as to be 
able to clearly understand how best to secure the 
highest and greatest results from it. 

By knowledge we generally understand those 
groups of related judgments which make up the 
mental whole which corresponds to a physical whole. 
Knowledge, therefore, consists of more or less 
organised judgments about things. Our idea of 
an orange is made up of the judgments that it 
is a round, yellow, soft, sweet, odorous, rined, pulped, 
thing. Our knowledge of an orange will involve 
further judgments about the above points, and the 
relating of them in a botanical sense ; also of judg- 
ments about the value of the fruit as a food, and 
for commercial purposes. But, as we shall see later 



276 EDUCATION 

on, some ideas are simple in tiiat they consist of only 
one judgment. 

Thus we see that knowledge is built up from judg- 
ments. Now, a judgment is neither more nor less, in 
its simplest form, than the exercising of the power 
of knowing : the mental marking off of likeness and 
difference. This may be a direct and immediate result 
necessarily involved in the reaction of mind, as when 
we mark off light from darkness ; or it may be the out- 
come of a number of such results, which have them- 
selves been related by a higher exercise of judgment, 
as when we judge that, since colours are the results of 
certain rates of vibration of light waves, if a disc on 
which different coloured bands have been painted is 
made to revolve at a sufficient rate the result will be 
an approach to the appearance of white colour. 

Knowing, in a lower or higher form, is an element in 
every state of consciousness, from the very beginning 
to the end of life. It is regarded as the highest attri- 
bute of man, because in him it incomparably exceeds 
that of any other animal ; whilst there is no reason for 
supposing that in feeling and willing, except in so far 
as they are influenced by the higher knowing, man is 
superior to the beasts of the held. Indeed, he is 
obviously inferior to some of them in so far as the 
feelings depend upon the senses, for their senses are 
much more acute than his. But in man thought, in a 
systematic, scientific, and philosophic form, is the out- 
come of sense experiences. 

What we have now to do is to trace the general 
development of ideas, as such, and to discover what are 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 277 

the elements of which they are composed. From the 
results thus obtained we shall be able to throw some 
further light on educational principles.' 

General Development of Ideas — We have already dealt 
with this topic in connection with the general mental 
development, and it only remains to briefly point out 
the special elements with which we are now concerned. 
It is the development of knowing, from a particular 
point of view, that we have to consider. 

The beginnings of ideas have necessarily the same 
starting-point as those of knowing, viz., the earliest 
experiences of life. Sensations and feelings are the 
first sources of knowledge, and, therefore, from them 
come the first elements and forms of ideas. 

That there is a marking off, or knowing, of one 
sensation from another, even by the infant, is shown by 
its crowing and crying. Similar evidence is given of 
its realisation of degrees of quantity in its pleasures 
and pains. Later on it learns to distinguish one kind 
of sensation from another, and uses its eyes, hands, ears, 
or mouth ; subsequently it shows a preference for certain 
kinds, according to the feelings produced. 

This taking account of the quality, quantity, and 
kind of sensations and feelings is the first element of 
ideas, and upon it is based all the after-development. 
It can hardly be said to be an idea, except in an implicit 
sense, at this stage, for the predominant feature in the 
experience is the feeling element. 

After a sufficient number of experiences have 
occurred, the mind not only takes account of its own 
general condition of pleasure or pain, but it begins to 



278 EDUCATION 

give an outer reference to the inner conditions.. For 
example, the child who is pleased with the colour of a 
toy learns to associate the feeling with the object, and 
finds a way of demanding the presence of the toy ; or, 
if it is pained by too hot food, it connects the pain with 
the substance with which it is being fed, and thrusts it 
away from its mouth. 

This assumes that the marking off of things in space, 
through their colour outlines and the touch experiences 
connected with them, has already taken place. The 
beginning of such a marking off is doubtless due almost 
wholly to colour differences, but the hands soon join 
with the eyes in giving greater defmiteness and precision 
to the process ; and the other senses stimulate their 
activity. If a sweet is put into the mouth of a child, 
without its having seen it, it will be likely to take it 
out and look at it. 

From this starting-point of a higher stage of knowing, 
and nearer approach to ideas, the mind goes on to the 
association of many different sensations and kinds of 
sensations — and feelings — with the same physical 
object. The object is then thought of as a whole with 
many details. Its parts, powers, actions, and functions, 
are all included, in a practical and concrete sense, as 
time goes on. The whole world of the child's immediate 
surroundings is thus dealt with, and so divided up into 
a multitude of distinct and significant objects. 

Since each of these details implies a judgment, it 
would appear that we now have a group of related judg- 
ments, which make an idea. But we have not yet 
arrived at the highest kind of ideas, inasmuch as we 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 279 

limit this term to a purely rational complex. In the 
above, the sensations and judgments occur together, 
and the latter are never absent from the former. Hence 
the object itself must always be present, in the sense 
of acting upon the senses, so as to cause the judg- 
ments to come together in the mind. For this reason 
we say that we have only, as yet, arrived at practical 
ideas. 

When a physical object is fairly familiar to us we are 
able to call up in the mind a purely mental picture of 
it, even after the thing itself has ceased to exist. These 
images are, like the percepts which they represent, in- 
dividual things at first. But whilst percepts always 
remain individual so far as they themselves are con- 
cerned, images become general, in the course of time. 

This is brought about by the association of like images 
iu such a way that, so to put it, a minimum amount of 
necessary detail is left for the purpose of suggesting the 
right kind of object. It is as though an artist were to 
make fairly full sketches of particular dogs, and then, 
as he came to compare them with one another and with 
sketches of other individual dogs, to erase all that was 
peculiar to each of them, until he had left only those 
quite general details of form — the element of exact size, 
being neglected — which were necessary to show that 
they were sketches of dogs, and not of cats, or other 
animals. 

An image of this kind, when once formed, is perfectly 
general in its reference, and is, therefore, called a generic 
image. It constitutes a most significant advance in men- 
tal life, for it bridges over the movement of thought 



280 EDUCATION 

from particular things to general ideas. Percepts, how- 
ever numerous, never in themselves make the general 
elements in things obvious. 

A word or two is necessary as to the scientific and 
popular use of the word imagine. In the strictly psycho- 
logical sense, we can only imagine, i.e., produce, or 
reproduce, a mental image of some physical object of 
which we have had a percept, or percepts. Whilst in 
popular language the word is used in this scientific 
sense, it is also use as meaning suppose, believe, and 
conceive, as in the sentences : Imagine such a thing 
happening ; I cannot imagine that it is true ; Can you 
imagine the reality of it ? 

Images are reproduced, or re-presented like other 
remembered mental results. They are also associated 
and combined into new and unexperienced complexes. 
Thus it is quite easy for us to imagine what a man 
would look like whose head grew under one of his arms, 
or to imagine the appearance of a satyr from a written 
description. Similarly, mental pictures of landscapes, 
of the concrete details of incidents, and the like, can be 
constructed by the mind itself, so far as it has had the 
necessary elements supplied by previous experiences. 
This is called constructive imagination. 

After a somewhat extensive knowledge of the mental 
impressions which objects and their details produce has 
been obtained, the mind comes to think of the mental 
effects of these impressions apart from their connection 
with such-and-such objects, that is, solely as mental 
wholes, and, therefore, things in themselves. They are 
then regarded as things which are possessed by certain 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 281 

objects, and which could be possessed by an unlimited 
number of objects. Thus, instead of thinking of indivi- 
dual things as being strong, large, hard, thick, sweet, 
heavy, and so on, we think of them as having strength, 
largeness, hardness, thickness, sweetness, and heaviness. 
We say that they have these qualities, and we think 
about qualities as though they were distinct things 
possessed by an object, whereas they are nothing more 
than the mental results produced by the different 
influences which objects exert upon us. 

Thus we think of apples as having redness, brown- 
ness, greenness, hardness, thickness, flavour, sweetness, 
usefulness, and wholesomeness. And all these thoughts 
can be together in the mind without any of the sensa- 
tions upon which they are based actually taking place 
at the same time. Now, therefore, we have a purely 
rational complex which represents our experience, but 
which is otherwise independent of it ; for we regard it 
in a way in which we cannot regard the apple itself — 
we should not have an apple, if we separated its 
sweetness, hardness, and so on from each other — and 
we can deal with it wholly from the mental point of 
view, for we can compare the mental details with 
each other, and the whole to other wholes, without 
reference to the physical objects. This, therefore, is 
the purely abstract, or highest kind of, idea. 

Out of abstract ideas arise all our sciences and philo- 
sophies. From the pure thought elements of experience 
we derive other and higher thoughts, and build these 
into systems of thought. These are the highest, and 
purely rational, values of our experiences, and can only 



282 EDUCATION 

come directly from that which is itself wholly mental. 
Ideas are themselves the most general elements of 
knowledge, for they have an infinite applicability. An 
infinite number of things have size, shape, weight, and 
so on. Sciences and philosophies involve the most 
generalised forms of ideas. 

We may illustrate these stages by taking an instance 
in which the same phenomenon is presented to different 
classes of individuals. Let us take an audience which 
is listening to a lecture on psychology. If some children 
in arms have the misfortune to be present, the lecture 
can be nothing more than an experience of the noise 
made by the speaker's voice, and possibly by other 
voices : of the effects of the lights, if it be in the 
evening : of the comfortable, or otherwise, feelings 
produced by the temperature of the room : and some 
vague impressions of the general surroundings. 

Girls and boys, and uneducated adults, who were 
present, would attach clear and definite meanings to 
such experiences ; and would, besides, understand many 
of the words, and, possibly, some of the sentences used 
by the lecturer, in so far as they applied to concrete 
things. They would understand something of the sig- 
nificance of the speaker's gesture, and recognise, more 
or less clearly, their effects upon the listeners. Any 
practical illustrations or amusing anecdotes would be 
relished by them. But, otherwise, the lecture would 
have very little, if any, significance for them. 

To the minds capable of scientific thought, the lecture 
would mean the setting forth of ideas which form a part 
of an organised body of knowledge. And, though the 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 283 

sensations experienced by the previous classes would 
be necessary as means of communication between 
them and the lecturer, these would be almost entirely 
forgotten in the mental activity aroused by the ideas 
as such. If they were really following the lecture they 
would be likely to think of very few concrete things at 
all, but would, under the guidance of the speaker, be 
engaged in observing, analysing, and synthesising ideas 
about ideas. 

Similarly, to take another example, a concrete object, 
such as a windmill, has different meanings for different 
capacities. To the little child it is, from the outside, 
simply something which is marked off in the general 
colour world, and which has a peculiar effect upon the 
sight if the sails are moving. From the inside, it will 
mean a particular kind of rumbling. noise, and the effects 
of unequal distribution of light and air. 

For older children and uneducated adults, who are 
allowed to become familiar with the windmill, the above 
impressions will have definite significance, and will very 
distinctly mark off the object as a whole from other 
objects. They will be able to decide at once, and 
without mistake as a rule, whether a given object is or 
is not a windmill. Then they will give definite meanings 
in a practical sense to the various parts, powers, and 
actions of the mill ; and will be able to mark off the 
different details from each other, in a similar manner 
to that in which they mark off the whole from other 
wholes. This kind of knowledge will be made much 
more complete and clear if a dissectible model can be 
made use of. But everything so known is directly 



284 EDUCATION 

sense-given, for it is only as the learner sees, feels, 
hears, and judges, in direct connection with each con- 
crete detail, that such knowledge is obtained. 

In the case of those whose minds have reached the 
stage of pure ideas, there will be all the previously 
mentioned details, but with a higher significance. The 
ideas of unity, purpose, design, power, effectiveness, 
usefulness, dependence (on man and wind), destructi- 
bility, finiteness, function, and so on, will be connected 
with the mill, and it will possibly be more often 
thought of in such relations than merely as a physical 
machinery. Again, the relation of the various parts 
to each other, with regard to support and motion, will 
lead to some of those ideas which, when built up into 
a system, we call the principles of mechanics. 

The Elements of Ideas. — From the above we see that 
there are three characteristic conditions, or stages, in 
the ordinary development of an idea. First there must 
be that which can, and does, affect the senses, and is 
taken account of by the mind. This is known as a 
presentation — which has been already discussed in the 
second chapter. 

As we shall see later on, ideas themselves give rise 
to other ideas, without any special action of the senses 
at the time ; but the original source of all ideas is the 
activities of the senses. The receiving and consciously 
realising of sensations is the beginning of mental life, 
and the origin of the most purely rational elements of 
the highest intellectual life. 

Next there is the giving of a definite mental meaning, 
and an external reference to separate presentations, or 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 285 

groups of presentations, in addition to simply realising 
them. The mental-with-physical result of this is termed 
a percept. 

Finally, we have the stage when only the purely 
rational results of the foregoing are taken account of, 
for the time being. When we are able thus to look 
into the mind itself for our knowledge of what a thing- 
means to us, we say that we have a purely rational 
conception of it. Hence we name such a rational com- 
plex a concept. 

We will now consider each of these elements in 
greater detail. In doing this it will be necessary to 
bear in mind that, as in all mental phenomena, each of 
them involves the others to a greater or lesser degree. 
The presentation contains the substance of the percept 
and the germs of the concept ; the. percept is an exten- 
sion of the presentation and supplies the materials for 
the concept ; and the concept is derived from the percept 
and presentation. Also, that all three elements are 
constantly developing simultaneously, though in different 
proportions. It is the explicit recognition, and making 
conscious use of the different elements which form the 
principal features of progress. 

I. Presentations. — A clearer idea of what a presentation 
involves may be obtained from the analysis of the details 
involved. This has been dealt with in the second 
chapter. 

So far as a presentation, as such, is concerned, there 
need not, and in the first instance cannot, be anything 
more than a vague realisation of something haviug 
happened to the mental life as a whole. There is a 



286 EDUCATION 

kind of general estimate as to whether this is a com- 
fortable or uncomfortable matter, but no further dis- 
crimination of its particular character and meaning in 
reference to the self and other things. When these occur 
a percept is formed. 

It is necessary that what is technically known as the 
impression should be of a certain intensity, or no pre- 
sentation will result from it. The truth of this will be 
recognised when one reflects that if every stimulus 
which is acting upon the whole body had to be definitely 
responded to by the mind there would be mental chaos ; 
for there are doubtless millions of stimuli acting upon 
an individual at any given moment. 

Again, this intensity must vary according to the 
general condition of mind and body at the time. In 
cases of certain bodily disorders a very slight stimulus 
may cause very violent disturbance, or a very violent 
stimulus may cause very slight response. Similarly 
with the mind : if the attention is already fixed and 
absorbed, by another matter, a very strong impression 
will meet with little, if any, response ; whilst, on the 
other hand, if the attention is lively and vigorous, but 
not pre-occupied, the slightest and most trivial impres- 
sion may receive very full response. 

The intensity which is necessary to bring an impres- 
sion into full consciousness is technically known as 
the liminal intensity. This not only varies with the 
particular condition of the individual at the moment, 
but also with regard to different periods and for different 
classes of impressions. Thus, the child, as a rule, re- 
quires much less to take its attention, but more to keep 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 287 

it, than an adult or even a youth. Again, the same 
person is affected more by stimuli of one kind than of 
another, e.g., a botanist would very definitely notice a 
variation in a flower, when the ordinary man would 
very likely not notice the flower at all. A botanist, 
thus easily and strongly affected by a plant, might be 
wholly unsusceptible to the ordinary influences of the 
phenomena of physics, in a scientific sense. A shep- 
herd can recognise his sheep by their faces as readily as 
he can his personal friends. 

If a stimulus be too intense there is no proper dis- 
crimination of it, but only a painfully violent disturbance 
and a sense of shock. The mind is unable to adjust 
itself to the proper reception of the impression, and a 
state of strain and friction is set up ; much in the same 
way as when the wind is blowing hard into our open 
mouth we have the feelings of choking, through inability 
to adjust our breathing organs to such an excessive 
supply. 

Similarly, when we try very hard to take account of 
impressions which have not a liminal intensity, there 
is a painful sense of mental strain and failure. This 
may • be compared to the results of trying to discern 
points of detail which the eye is really incapable of 
seeing. In both cases it is the inability of the organism 
to adjust itself to the stimulus which causes the effort 
to produce the disturbance and pain. 

Both over-intensity and under-in tensity may produce 
permanently mischievous, and even disastrous, results. 
This is seen in cases where children are made per- 
manently fearful, or even driven into imbecility, by 



288 EDUCATION 

having the emotion of fear over-excited by, to them, 
horrible stories about the bogey-man. On the other 
hand, an individual may develop a cold and unsym- 
pathetic character, through not having had his feelings of 
gratitude and affection sufficiently aroused in early life. 

Another very important feature in presentations is 
the relation between the intensity of the sensation and 
the stimulus. It is found by experiments that when 
a certain sensation is being experienced it is necessary 
for the stimulus to be doubled before there is a definite 
consciousness of an increase in the intensity of the 
sensation. If, for example, a pound weight is resting 
upon the hand, and more and more weight is gradually 
added, it is not until the total amounts to two pounds 
that there is a clear consciousness of an increase of sen- 
sation. Of course, this assumes that the eye and ear are 
prevented from helping the judgment. To get still 
another conscious recognition of an increase of sensation 
the weight must be increased to four pounds. 

This fact is generally expressed by saying that : to 
increase the sensation in arithmetical progression, we 
must increase the stimulus in geometrical progression. 
That is, if the progress of sensation is to be as l,-2, 3, 
4, 5, the progress of stimulus must be as I, 2, 4, 8, 
16. This is known as Weber's, or Fechner's law, 
because its recognition was chiefly due to the investi- 
gations of Weber, and Fechner. But it is an analogy 
rather than a law, for it is hardly true to say that the 
sensation increases in arithmetical progression. The 
mind is conscious of " more," not of " one unit more," 
sensation. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 289 

A presentation may be simple or complex. It may 
be simple, in that it is a single impression conveyed 
through one of the senses, e.g., a single colour or a 
single sound, or a succession of such. A complex 
presentation may arise from several impressions coming 
through the same sense, or through different senses, at 
one time, as when a combination of colours is seen, or 
when we see the performers in an orchestra, hear the 
music, and feel the vibrations caused by the double- 
bass. 

We may define a presentation as : anything which is 
attended to by the mind. This definition is designedly 
wider than much of the foregoing discussion suggests. 
We must make it thus wide, because when the mind 
has reached a reflective stage, and is, therefore, able 
to think about its own thoughts, these become matters 
which are dealt with in a manner similar to that in 
which we deal with sense-presentations. Were it not 
for the fact that we are able to do this, we could not 
have such a science as psychology. Purely mental 
presentations imply that introspective, reflective, self- 
consciousness which makes the knowledge of the mind 
possible. 

The whole universe of mind and matter may be 
looked upon as one vast presentation, made up of a 
series of related presentations, which the mind, in its 
growth and development, partly creates, absorbs, and 
reflects. In a more restricted sense, the world of ex- 
perience is our presentation universe. This has been 
termed the presentation continuum by Dr. James Ward, 
because of its continuity and unity. From it smaller 

T 



290 EDUCATION 

systems, or continua, such as the visual, aural, tactual, 
ideational, emotional, and so on, are evolved as life 
goes on; but these are always inter-dependent upon, 
and inter-related with, the great unity of life and 
thought. 

2. Percepts. — From what has already been said it 
will be seen that percepts involve what we have spoken of 
as the knowledge of the concrete and practical elements 
of things, and of their parts, powers, and actions. To 
put the matter in general terms, we may say that the 
percept involves the mental realisation of the fact that 
certain complexes of impressions express the existence 
and nature of particular things, or physical objects, as 
we usually name them. 

We will proceed to investigate more closely the nature 
of a percept. It will be necessary throughout the 
following discussions to guard ourselves against con- 
fusing the psychological use of the word percept with 
some of the ordinary uses of the word perceive. In 
ordinary speech we meet with such a sentence as : 
You will perceive the truth of the argument. Now, 
there can be no psychological percept referred to in 
such a sentence, for there is no concrete object involved. 
Truth and argument are both abstract ideas. The 
word perceive has here the meaning of understand, 
apprehend, or grasp. But in such a sentence as : 
You did not, perhaps, perceive the man place his hand 
under the cloth, the word is used in a strictly psycho- 
logical sense, and means : You did not, perhaps, have 
a percept of the man placing his hand under the cloth. 

We have already pointed out that in the percept there 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 291 

is a definite significance given to sense-impi*essions. 
There is the recognising that certain colour sensations 
are like to each other, but unlike others which are 
also like to each other. Thus a certain colour will 
appear to the mind as such-and-such an one, that is, 
when language is known, we say that it is white, black, 
red, or blue. And, similarly, all other sensations will 
have a definite character or meaning. 

This recognising and classifying of sense-presenta- 
tions is known as the element of assimilation in percepts. 
Assimilation here, as always, involves its correlative — 
discrimination — for wherever there is a marking out as 
to likeness, there must be a marking off as to unlike- 
ness. This applies equally to ideational, emotional, and 
other presentations. 

Assimilation implies the retention. and re-presentation 
of mental effects, for there could be no re-cognition 
unless previous cognitions, however vague, are repre- 
sented along with the presentation. If we assume 
that this takes place automatically, from the nature of 
mind itself, and that it is followed by what Dr. 
Bain calls the " shock of agreement," and " flash of 
identity in diversity," then assimilation and discrimin- 
ation are accounted for. 

From the standpoint of later knowledge, we may say 
that assimilation is the result of the spontaneous activity 
of memory and association. As has been frequently 
insisted, the meaning of a presentation is largely due to 
the representative elements, which the mind itself 
supplies for purposes of interpretation and assimi- 
lation. 



292 EDUCATION 

Besides this internal mental assimilation of the sense- 
presentation, there is the giving it an external refer- 
ence. Probably the first element in this external refer- 
ence is the clear recognition that the impression, or 
impressions, come through a certain sense. The young 
child doubtless leaims that colour sensations come 
through the eyes, because of what happens when it 
closes its eyes, and because of the local disturbance, 
which causes blinking and shutting of the eyes, when 
there is a dazzling light. 

"It is by the daily renewed conjunctions of simple 
sense-experiences, and more particularly those of sight 
and touch, that the little learner comes to refer its 
impressions to objects. By continually looking at the 
objects handled, the usual perception of direction 
becomes perfected, as also that of distance within 

certain limits A child known to the present 

writer was first seen to stretch out his hand to an object 
when two and a half months old. The hand misses the 
exact point at first, passing beside it, but practice gives 
precision to the movement. The same child at six 
months knew when an object was within reach. If a 
biscuit or other object was held out of his reach, he 
made no movement, but as soon as it was brought 
within his reach he instantly put out his hand to take 
it." (Sully.) 

Then a still more remote external reference is given 
to sensations. Thus colours are regarded as spread 
over a certain amount of space, sounds as coming 
from a certain direction, tastes as being connected with 
certain objects, and so on. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 293 

Such references of impressions to that which is ex- 
ternal to the .mind itself is termed the element of 
localisation in percepts. 

Localisation involves the idea of space, the origin of 
which we cannot go into now. We may say in general 
terms that, to obtain correct space elements in a 
percept, we must have explored an object by means 
of the sense of touch combined with movements. The 
tactual sensations must be continuous until the limits 
of the object are reached, whether the movement 
is forwards or backwards. Also the usual sensations 
must be unbroken during the sweep of the eye over the 
object. 

Both of these series must be simultaneously presented 
to the mind, and there must be a sense of more or less 
of what we may call bigness or massiveness about the 
total — in the sense that the sight of a huge elephant 
impresses one in a different sense from that of a mina- 
ture model of it, though the extent of the retinal im- 
pression may be the same in each case. This is tech- 
nically known as the extensity of the sensation. 

But this localisation of a percept involves much more 
than vague references to that which is not mind. There 
is a definite recognition of a something underlying the 
sensation, or sense-impression, itself, and which is the 
original source from whence it arises. This we call con- 
crete substance ; and we regard it as having different 
forms, each having distinct and separate units, and 
classes of such units, with their sub-classes. In other 
words, there are organic and inorganic forms of matter, 
with all their divisions and sub-divisions of forms. 



294 EDUCATION 

Each distinct and separate unit we call a thing ; and 
this element of the realisation of a special and separate 
source of the activities which gives rise to sense-im- 
pressions we ca the intuition of things. 

Since each part of a percept is the outcome of the 
re-action of the mind, according to its own fundamental 
nature, to the action of external influences, we can 
only point out the conditions and details involved. We 
cannot give any other reason for the nature of the 
result than to say that it appears to be the necessary 
effect of the re-action of such an organism as mind to 
the special influences which act upon it. 

The grouping of the details of a percept, through the 
recognition of their concrete relations to each other, in- 
volves a series of practical judgments, and is, therefore, 
in this respect, a mediate, and not an immediate 
product. The full meaning of this will appear as we 
proceed. 

The intuition of things involves several essential 
elements. First and foremost is the realisation of the 
actuality or reality of what we call the thing. This 
consists in the inevitable conviction, under normal 
conditions, that there is that of which the senses are 
taking account, and which they cannot escape taking 
account of, unless prevented by something which inter- 
feres with the ordinary relation between their own 
activities and those of an external object. 

There is that which is recognised as a fundamental 
difference between a sense-presentation and a mental 
representation. The latter is, more or less, under the 
control of the will, both as to time and form, while 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 295 

the form can, more or less, compel the will as to these. 
Thus we can think of a being, half man and half 
horse, when we will, but we are compelled to have the 
proper percept of a horse, if such an animal is before 
us, under normal conditions. It is the mind which 
takes account of qualities, but there is some concrete 
thing which possesses that which gives rise to the 
ideas. 

Next there is the element of resistibility in a concrete 
or physical thing. Experience teaches us that there 
is what we call free space, in which our limbs can move 
without hindrance ; but where there is what we know 
as a physical object, there our movements are more or 
less retarded, or entirely stopped. This leads us to 
the idea that there is something which is a thing in 
itself, or entity, in the same sense that our body is 
known to us as a kind of physical self. 

Then there is also the element of unity and com- 
plexity. As has been pointed out, certain sounds, 
sights, smells, tastes, and muscular sensations, are all 
referred to one objective centre, as in the case of an 
orange. The object, as a whole, is regarded as made 
up of those constituents which respectively give rise to 
the different sense-impressions. Moreover, such a com- 
plex is, as a rule, regarded as a separate and self-con- 
tained whole, whatever may be its relations to other 
wholes, Its extent, as determined by the limits of its 
special form of resistibility, has limits in space, and it 
is thus physically marked off as a unit. 

Another element is that of permanence or temporal 
continuity. The unit has such a unity that it can, as a 



296 EDUCATION 

rule, change its position without being otherwise 
materially altered, or, at any rate, not so changed as to 
spoil its identity, or prevent its recognition as such- 
and-such a specimen of a certain class. It has a physi- 
cal individuality which is, as a whole, maintained in 
spite of many changes of detail. It is not as though 
each man were simply something more of man as a 
race ; but he is a thing in itself, which has its own 
permanent individuality, though belonging to a special 
class of objects. 

Finally, there is the element of substantiality in the 
intuition of things. This really sums up, in a sort of 
final expression, all the elements. It more especially 
suggests the space-occupying attribute. This is a more 
or less monopolising and exclusive element. Where 
the actual substance is, there, so far as we know, 
nothing else can be. No substance is known to be 
absolutely solid, but all seem to have more or less 
extensive interstices between the final units of which 
they are composed. Pieces of solid steel and sponge 
are suggestive of the more or less monopolising of space 
by substance. This it is which forms the basis of our 
idea of a physical object. 

Of course each of these elements does not come to us 
consecutively, or even separately ; and they are, in the 
end, inseparably united in the total percept. Such a 
separation as here made is a purely rational analysis 
of the meaning and significance of a percept. The 
separate elements of the percept, as such, are direct 
and immediate forms of cognition. The whole 
becomes more and more full of content as experience 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 297 

and knowledge widen and deepen ; but at any given 
moment it is a distinct aDd definite whole. 

A percept, or concrete idea, may he defined as an 
intelligible synthesis of impressions. The word in- 
telligible must here be understood to mean : by the 
intelligence, for the intelligence. It should be care- 
fully noted that a percept is not defined as a 
synthesis of presentations, for this would include 
purely intellectual presentations, which are beyond the 
sphere of percepts. 

Great care must be taken not to confuse actual 
percepts with those judgments which previous ex- 
periences and judgments cause us to instinctively base 
upon the percepts. For example, we do not perceive, 
in the strictly psychological sense, the distance of an 
object from us. There is nothing in a ray of light 
itself to tell us whether it has been reflected from an 
object an inch away or a million of miles away. 

What really happens is this : because of the mus- 
cular sensations which are involved in a certain 
visual experience, we judge — after mentally comparing 
the present sensations with past ones which are as- 
sociated with the experiences attending a walk to the 
object seen — that if we were to walk to the object 
the time and energy required would be such-and-such, 
and we, therefore, say that the object seen is far away 
or near. 

The same kind of criticism applies to some judgments 
based upon aural, tactual, and muscular experiences. 
We cannot perceive that a tune is melodious, bright, 
or bold, by looking at the score : that an object is 



298 EDUCATION" 

heavy, hard, or damp, by seeing it : or that an 
apple is ripe, sweet, soft, or juicy, from a sight of 
it. 

As an illustration of the elements in a percept we 
may take the case of a book. The impressions which 
a book gives rise to are recognised, when re-acted upon 
by consciousness, as such-and-such sensations, which 
we afterwards learn to call visual, tactual, and mus- 
cular sensations. This is assimilation, and justifies us 
in saying that a certain object is a book, and not a 
box, or a leather bag. If challenged, we should assert 
that certain of these sensations come through the eye, 
others through the skin, and muscles ; and also that 
they were due to a certain something which occupied a 
certain definitely limited space area. This is localisation, 
and is implied in saying : the object in such-and-such 
a position is a book. 

Then there is the conviction that no person, in a 
normal state, could fail to be aware of this object, 
under proper conditions, because it is such that it 
necessarily affects the senses in various ways, and has 
a permanent individuality. This is the intuition of 
the thing, and implies that we regard the book as a 
kind of physical self, more or less of the nature of our 
own body-self. It has a separate existence, and is, 
therefore an entity or thing in itself. 

Prom what has been said, it will be seen that all 
percepts are practical judgments, and that many of 
them are very complex judgments. But all the 
judgments about the parts, as such, are, direct and 
immediate, or intuitive judgments. If they were not 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 299 

so, judgment in a higher sense could not exist, for 
it would have no starting-point, nor material to deal 
with. These concrete judgments are related to each 
other in systematic, practical forms — hence the arts — 
and the mental processes involved constitute what is 
called practical reason. Of the activities involved we 
shall treat more fully in dealing with concepts. It is 
this relating of the parts and wholes to each other 
which constitutes the immediate, or more or less ex- 
plicitly connected, character of percepts. 

This may well be called the practical reason. Its 
most striking form is seen in those inventions 
connected with mechanical details which are so often 
made by artisans, and are said to have done almost as 
much for the development of machinery as the original 
designs. Almost every intelligent worker is constantly 
finding out little ways in which concrete materials are 
more easily and effectively controlled. Workmen have 
what we call " knacks " in doing their work. 

All such involve what we may term perceptual 
reasoning. Direct judgments are made about things, 
whilst, and because, persons are handling them. There 
is no explicit thinking out of matters by, say, a brick- 
layer, as is the case, for example, with an architect 
in his office, but a kind of almost instinctive realising 
that such and such materials, in a certain concrete 
relation, will lead to given practical results. 

Of course all the elements of experience-given know- 
ledge, and mental ideas, and their relations are implicit, 
and may later on become explicit. But, at the time, the 
individual himself regards the whole matter as one of 



300 EDUCATION 

doing, and not of thinking. It is thus that the arts 
precede the sciences. And in this way the race has 
done great things in the way of action, whilst the power 
of abstract thinking has been small. 

These remarks on perceptual reasoning should be 
carefully compared with what was said about the 
development of practical knowing, when we were 
dealing with the development of feeling and knowing 
in the fourth chapter. 

3. Concepts. — The movement from the wholly in- 
dividual and particular elements of thought, as found 
in percepts, to the perfectly general elements which are 
found in the concept, or abstract idea, is a very mo- 
mentous one. It is the basis of that higher self-con- 
sciousness, and reflective reason, which distinguish man 
from the lower animals. If this step were not taken, 
man would always remain in the sphere of the empirical 
and the particular. Instinct would be the only or- 
ganising activity of thought, and life would be limited 
to a cycle of more or less advanced, and perhaps 
advancing, habits. 

At a certain point in his development the human 
being comes, so to say, face to face with his own mind. 
No higher progress is possible unless he recognises the 
fact that a fundamental element in his experiences is 
supplied by a special capacity belonging to himself. 
He must grasp the truth that certain elements which 
he has hitherto regarded as part and parcel of things 
themselves exist, in a sense, only in his own mind. ]n 
other words, it is necessary that he should realise that 
what we call the qualities of things have separate 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 301 

existence only in so far as they are purely mental 
wholes. 

Now, the abstract, as such, is known as different from 
the concrete. This makes possible the existence of 
knowledge, as knowledge, i.e., a mental store of truths, 
known as truths. Of course this is realised, at first, 
only in a very simple and direct sense, and not in any 
scientific or philosophic manner. The individual has 
simply learnt to distinguish between his impressions, as 
such, and his judgments about them. He can separate 
the latter from the former, and, to some extent, can 
still further investigate the nature and meaning of 
them. From this starting-point there stretches out 
before him infinite possibilities of rational progress. 
Infinite, for him, because he has to deal with a universe 
of infinite detail and complexity with finite powers and 
a limited amount of time. 

Already there has been an organising of knowledge 
and actions into systems for practical purposes — the 
arts. Now this is followed by that deeper insight into 
the inner unity of things, which results in the ideas of 
general relations, principles, and laws; the organising 
of these into those systems of knowledge which we term 
sciences ; and the attempt to organise these into that still 
higher unity of knowledge which we name philosophy. 

Let us, therefore, examine more closely into the 
nature and details of concepts, with regard to their 
origin, constitution, and activities. We have already 
asserted that they are derived from percepts, and pre- 
sentations generally ; and it only remains to say how 
they are evolved. 



302 EDUCATION 

Some details have previously been given of the way 
in which concepts are developed. The foundation of 
the whole process is the recognition of the distinction 
between an experience and our judgment, or judg- 
ments, about it ; and the keeping of these distinct for 
mental purposes. This is done, spontaneously at first, 
and designedly afterwards, both with regard to experi- 
ences as a whole and to each detail of them. 

Thus one of the processes in the development of the 
concept is the separation of the more purely mental 
elements from the more purely material. This is the 
result of a process of analysis, and is usually spoken of 
as the element of abstraction in the concept. 

But this analysis involves more than the mere separa- 
tion, in thought, of the mental from the other elements 
in an experience. These mental elements, or qualities, 
are themselves separated from each other by their simi- 
larities and differences, and are classified and grouped. 
Thus different shades of blueness are classified, and the 
classes grouped under the general system of colour 
ideas. So also classes of abstract ideas are separated 
from each other, but, again, all grouped under a general 
system. Abstract ideas derived from visual experiences 
are kept distinct from those obtained through the sense 
of touch ; but both are grouped, with others, under 
the system of those derived from sense experiences 
generally. 

Such a process of classification involves very careful 
and close comparison of abstract ideas with one another; 
and, therefore, the result is commonly called the element 
of comparison in the concept. Like abstraction, it is 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 303 

primarily due to an analytic process, but it also 
obviously involves a process of synthesis. 

But there is a further process of synthesis in the 
formation of a concept. All those ideas of qualities 
which are derived through experiences connected with 
one and the same thing are synthesised into a mental 
whole, which retains a permanent distinctness and in- 
dividuality of its own in the mental world. We may 
illustrate this by pointing out that the percept of a 
square is expressed by saying that it is a straight- 
sided, four-sided, equal-sided, right-angled, figure ; 
whilst the concept of it — which is the concept of 
squareness — is expressed by saying it is an idea which 
involves the ideas of rectilinealness, quadrilateralness, 
equilateralness, and equiangularity. 

Such concepts as those of rectilinealness, blueness, 
length, and the like, are those to which we have pre- 
viously referred as simple ideas. They involve in 
themselves, so far as we know, only one single element 
of thought and experience. 

The concept definition shows at once the elements of 
abstraction, in the four ideational units : of comparison, 
as implied in the different names : and of synthesis, as 
involved in their grouping as the expression of one 
total idea. 

It would be clearer and more exact to speak of the 
elements of analysis and synthesis in the concept, rather 
than of those of abstraction and comparison ; for 
abstraction and comparison are neither so clear in 
themselves, nor do they so clearly express the facts of 
the case. 



304 EDUCATION 

In addition to the elements of abstraction and com- 
parison, or analysis and synthesis, there is another very 
important element in the concept. When once the 
more purely mental elements or qualities have been 
separated from an experience, there is no reason why 
they should be looked upon as belonging to any par- 
ticular presentatiou ; although particular presentations 
must always be thought of as involving particular con- 
cepts. Hence, concepts, whether of complexes or 
individual elements, are regarded as perfectly general 
in their significance, and application to experience. 
Thus one's concept of squareness does not belong to 
this, that, or the other square, but to any and every 
square that now exists, or ever may exist. Similarly, 
the concept of equiangularity is also generalised. 

The element in the concept which is thus added is 
known as the element of generalisation. The applica- 
tion, extension, and expansion of this element plays the 
most essential and fruitful part in the higher rational 
development. 

We may sum up the foregoing by defining a concept, 
or abstract idea, as : an intelligible synthesis of attri- 
butes. The word intelligible must be understood in 
the same sense as in the definition of a percept. 

Since it is merely the distinct conscious separation, 
in thought, of the mental from the other elements in 
experience which gives the rationally separate existence 
to the concept, it is clear that the concept is implicit 
in every experience, and that it may be made explicit 
under favourable conditions. 

Concepts, like all mental elements, have certain forms 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 305 

of activity by which, they become related to the 
members of their own and other classes. Hence con- 
cepts are associated with one another in classes, and 
these classes are united into systems. 

As well as being thus associated with each other, 
concepts are consciously related to each other, as to 
their general or particular agreement or difference. 
For example, the judgments : all truthfulness is virtue ; 
some success is- moral ; force is no remedy ; some 
criminals are not vicious ; involve relations of concepts 
as to their general or particular agreement or difference. 
Such relatings of concepts to one another constitute 
judgments in pure reason. 

But there is, under the stimulus and guidance of 
the mind as a whole, a higher kind of activity amongst 
concepts than is involved in judgments. This consists 
in such an inter-relating of judgments that other 
concepts result from them. From this source come purely 
rational judgments, and trains of rational judgments, 
or reasonings. 

Eeasonings may be of two kinds. We may take two 
or more judgments dealing with one and the same 
common subject matter and so relate these to each 
other as to build up a new judgment. Thus, if we have 
the two judgments : all knowledge is helpful ; and, the 
science of education is knowledge ; then we can hardly 
help recognising that the judgment : the science of 
education is helpful, is involved in them. This is 
clearly a synthetic process. It is called deductive 
reasoning, or deduction. The activity is a systematic 
extension of the synthetic processes involved in the 

U 



306 EDUCATION 

formation of a concept, which are themselves higher 
forms of the fundamental activities of assimilation and 
discrimination. 

The other kind of reasoning consists in analysing a 
single judgment, or a series of similar judgments, arid 
finding that a universal judgment is involved. When 
Newton saw the apple fall to the ground he would, 
implicitly at least, make a judgment to that effect. 
But he also proceeded to analyse this judgment, and 
others like it, until he became convinced that he was 
justified in making the judgment : The reason why 
bodies sometimes fall is, because all physical bodies 
attract each other. 

Such universal judgments, we say, express principles, 
or laws. The process of thought is obviously analytic, 
except as to the summing up of results in the final 
judgment. The whole is called inductive reasoning 
or induction. A detailed example of inductive reason- 
ing is given in the second chapter, and discussed in 
the fourth. The process is a systematic expansion of 
the analytic activities involved in the formation of a 
concept, which are themselves higher forms of the 
fundamental activities of assimilation and discrimina- 
tion. 

A great deal might be said in connection with 
reasoning and its educational bearings, for these are 
very numerous and important. But the subject is 
much too wide to be dealt with now. It could only be 
properly considered in a book on logic and its relations 
to education. 

The above form what we may call the unit elements 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDE^S 307 

of knowledge. These are unified by the general 
activity of mind, both by direct and indirect means. 
The direct means is the organising effects of attention, 
and the indirect means is the use of a symbolic ma- 
chinery which mind invents, and which we term 
language. It will be necessary to consider these. 

Ideas and Attention. Apperception. — Attention con- 
stitutes, or rather expresses, both the receiving and the 
responding activities of the mind. Sensations, percepts, 
and concepts, that is, all kinds of presentations, must 
stimulate the attention if they are to have any definite 
effect upon consciousness. When they do have a 
definite effect, they are not only dealt with as indivi- 
dual presentations, but their relations to other like 
experiences are taken account of. 

So much is necessary before a presentation can have 
definite significance for us. But a great deal more 
than this takes place, either implicitly or explicitly. 
The activity of attention continues the work of assimi- 
lation and discrimination, to a greater or lesser extent, 
into the higher regions of thought. The implicit and 
explicit features in such a mental pursuit are illustrated 
by such incidents as the following. 

A schoolboy is discovered in what strikes the teacher 
as a particularly bad act of copying. The teacher is so 
impressed with the gravity of the offence that he begins 
to carefully think the matter over, to see if it may not 
be the result of ignorance and thoughtlessness on the 
boy's part. But no sooner does he begin to attend 
vigorously to his line of thought than all sorts of things 
come crowding in upon his mind. The boy has been 



308 EDUCATION 

in ill odour with his fellows through some mysterious 
disappearances of private stores from their boxes ; he 
shirks games ; his preparation-work has been sus- 
piciously superior to his class-work ; many of his 
actions which have been regarded as not too refined are 
seen to have a sinister connection with each other ; and 
so on, till the teacher is somewhat astounded at the 
result, and at the fact that he has not noticed these 
things before. 

As a matter of fact, much of the result was already 
prepared in the mind, through the implicit organising 
effects of attention, and it only required the more 
definite act of special attention to make them, and 
others, explicit. The final issue might be to remove 
the act from the class of individual slips in conduct to 
a strikiug manifestation of vicious disposition and 
character. This will have involved the highest pro- 
cesses of assimilation and discrimination, or analytic 
and synthetic thought, viz., inductive and deductive 
reasonings. 

From an examination of the separate judgments 
about details of conduct, the general, though limited, 
inductive judgment : all these actions are vicious, 
would be made. Then the following deductive reason- 
ing would occur, either implicitly or explicitly : all boys 
who systematically do vicious acts are of vicious dis- 
position and character ; this boy is a boy who systemati- 
cally does vicious acts ; therefore, this boy is of a vicious 
disposition and character. 

From such an example it will be seen that attention 
carries on the work of assimilation and discrimination, 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 309 

from its lowest to its highest forms, through an organic 
and complete system of processes. This involves the 
relating of a presentation to a class of like presenta- 
tions, the relating of it through this class to allied 
classes in a system of such presentations, and the inter- 
relating of it, through this system, more or less fully, 
directly, and explicitly, with the whole mind. 

Such a more or less completely systematic inter- 
relation of a presentation with representative elements 
is known as apperception. Professor J. M. Baldwin 
has well defined apperception as : " The synthesis in 
consciousness by which mental data of any kind (sensa- 
tions, percepts, concepts) are constructed into higher 
forms of relation, and the perception of things which 
are related becomes the perception [i.e., rational realisa- 
tion] of the relation of things." 

He also says: "This use of the word apperception 
to express the broadest act of mental relation is of 
great importance and value. The treatment of the 
very distinct and familiar act of mind in attention, of 
grasping details and relating them to one another in a 
new mental product, has heretofore been confined to 
its special operations — as perception, conception, judg- 
ment — to each of which a different name was given. 
The term apperception singles out that act of mind 
which is common to them all — the relating activity of 
consciousness — and thus, by its general application, 
emphasises the unity of the intellectual function as a 
whole." 

Through this process ideas become systemised into 
the highest forms of thought. The concentration of 



310 EDUCATION 

the energy of attention results in the thorough organi- 
sation of presentations in relation to the whole mental 
structure. 

Whilst association of ideas is determined by the order 
of experiences, the apperception of ideas is determined 
by their own nature, and the general constitution and 
condition of mind at the moment. We may regard 
each of the ideas possessed by the mind as eagerly 
striving to obtain from a presentation whatever is of 
like nature to itself. When, therefore, the mind has 
acquired skill in this complete assimilation of the 
different mental elements in a presentation, there is no 
longer a process of " swallowing things whole " and 
reproducing them with literal accuracy as in youth; 
but, in place of this, the items of the presentation 
seem to disappear and leave few, if any, traces of their 
original forms. 

Because of this, adults often think they have lost 
their powers of memory when, as a matter of fact, these 
are most active, powerful, and fruitful. But they act 
more through assimilative, than through mechanical, 
retention. The mind reads, marks, learns, and inwardly 
digests the significance, instead of retaining merely the 
direct effects of experiences. 

A group of ideas which absorbs an idea from a 
presentation is called an apperceiving group ; the 
idea is said to be apperceived ; and the total of ideas, 
then and subsequently, make up an apperceptive group. 

The association of ideas as determined by the order 
of experiences is an important point in connection with 
the building up of systems of ideas, for the right order of 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 311 

dependence and inter-relation may be largely indicated 
by the order in which they are remembered. 

If we experiment on ourselves, we shall find that 
the order of association corresponds to the order of 
presentation in a series. Thus, if the words geranium, 
catapult, dog, cake, book, be read through twice, the 
reader will probably be able to repeat them from 
memory. But if he immediately try, without any kind 
of preparation, to say them backwards, he will un- 
doubtedly fail. It is only by arranging them in a 
backward order, and so making a new series of them, 
that they can be so associated. 

The arrangement of ideas which are to form a system 
should, therefore, be carefully systenjised in experience, 
so far as this may be possible. 

Persons are very apt to be too much dominated by a 
particular apperceptive group. Almost every person is 
necessarily influenced most by some one apperceptive 
group, from the fact that he is most concerned with 
some special interest in life — such as his business, pro- 
fession, or hobby — and, therefore, develops the ideas 
connected therewith very extensively. But, if this be 
allowed to become too absorbing, the general mental life 
will become narrow and stereotyped, with the result 
that the specially developed apperceptive group is likely 
to be much less strong and sound than it might other- 
wise be. 

Because of the general inter-relation and inter- 
dependence of every part of mind, no one power can be 
both exclusively, and soundly, developed ; for the weak- 
ness of one, or more, of the other powers will inevitably 



312 EDUCATION 

tend to weaken the predominant one. The other chief 
powers should therefore be maintained at an average 
state, at least, of power and skill. Otherwise, there 
will be a danger of developing mischievous forms of 
enthusiasm, faddism, monomania, and the like. 

Ideas and Language. — Doubtless the beginnings of 
speech are to be found in the cries and movements 
with which primitive man expressed his emotions. 
These would be likely to repeat themselves, and thus 
to be so impressed upon the person using them that the 
emotion would suggest the usual signs of expression. 
These would become general, and practically traditional, 
through the imitativeness of children. Hence primitive 
man would, on hearing certain cries, or seeing certain 
actions, immediately think that certain emotions, and 
other experiences, were being undergone. 

Besides this, the necessity and desire of communicating 
his experiences to his fellows would lead to the imitation 
of the cries and actions of animate things, and the shapes 
and movements of, and the sounds made by, inanimate 
things. Thus a very crude form of vocal language, and 
a somewhat complex form of gesture language, would 
be evolved. 

Soon, however, as the necessity and convenience of 
signs as a means of communication became more fully 
recognised, the limitations of gestures for this purpose 
would be felt. The great ease with which vocal signs 
can be formed ; the delicate shades of expression which 
they admit of ; the distances at which they are effective; 
their independence of visual aid, so that they are equally 
useful during day and night; and the possibility of 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 313 

increasing them to a practically unlimited extent, would 
all force themselves upon those who most desired to 
communicate with others. 

Hence vocal signs would get more and more coherent 
and systematic, until articulate speech was developed. 
When this step had been taken, language, in the form 
that we know it, would begin to take definite shape. 
But a long period would elapse before anything like an 
extensive or systematically arranged language would 
appear. Very much later still would it be before speech 
was reduced to writing — first of a pictorial and then of 
a conventional character. 

We have spoken of the necessity as well as the con- 
venience of language. Now this necessity is a mental 
as well as a practical one. Only through a means of 
communication could man procure much aid or helpful 
companionship from his fellow man ; and only through 
the aid of signs can the mind carry on its highest pro- 
cesses. For example, it is found that though the deaf 
and dumb can express, with great freedom and accuracy, 
their percepts and practical experiences, through ges- 
tures and imitations — either with or without the deaf 
and dumb alphabet — yet they seem incapable of forming 
many, or very complex, general ideas, because they 
cannot express them. 

Doubtless this is due to the difficulty, which becomes 
an impossibility in some instances, of retaining in full 
consciousness all the elements of an abstract idea, or 
indeed of a complex percept. To give an extreme 
example of this, the total idea of man includes all the 
ideas involved in those attributes, powers, and activities 



314 EDUCATION 

which are treated of m psychology, logic, ethics, human 
physiology, and human anatomy, as well as a great 
many others treated of in the various sciences. It is 
clearly impossible to have all these, or even a very small 
fraction of them, in clear consciousness at any one 
moment. 

If this be true of a single concept, much more is it 
true of two concepts and the processes of relating them, 
as involved in a judgment. And still more urgent be- 
comes the necessity of symbols for thinking out series 
of judgments, or reasonings. It is because of this that 
the place and function of language in development is of 
such essential importance. 

Mind has, therefore, invented for itself a kind of 
mental algebra, which we call language. Just as in 
algebra we say let the sign " x " stand for such-and-such 
things, so in thought we say let the symbol "man" 
(spoken and written) stand for whatever of our total 
concept of man is being dealt with. In both systems 
we must always be prepared to translate the sign into 
the thing signified, whenever occasion demands it. 

Thought is originally a spontaueous development of 
mind, and is necessarily existent before there can be 
any need of language for its further progress. As Dr. 
J. Ward says : " While it is possible for thought to 
begin without language, just as arts may begin without 
tools, yet language enables us to carry the same process 

enormously farther But thought as a permanent 

activity may be fairly said to originate in, and even to 
depend upon, the acquisition of speech." 

In thinking proper there is always the exercise of 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 315 

voluntary willing upon ideas. In other words, all 
thinking is a voluntary effort. There is also an in- 
evitable element of design as to the line of thought, and 
some prevision, however slight, of what the end will be. 
We never think, so to speak, entirely in the dark. It 
is necessary that we should know what end we are 
trying to reach, or we can never achieve any intelligible 
thought at all, for there is no centre to which ideas are 
directed. To this extent the result of our thought is 
always more or less pre-determined. 

Some element of interest is, therefore, required. 
This will be supplied by our judgment as to the relation 
of the results to our feelings of pleasure and pain ; 
whether through intellectual effects, both as to the pro- 
cesses and products of the train of thought, or as to the 
actions which we may propose to take on the final 
judgments arrived at. As a rule, trains of thought will 
be prompted by some definite desire on the part of the 
thinker. 

In all such thought processes and conditions, the 
percept is itself its own symbol of the purely mental 
elements which it involves, and which are always im- 
plicitly active, so long as the percept is before the mind 
presentatively, or representatively — through the mental 
image. But for purely rational thought, through explicit 
abstract ideas, or concepts, no such natural symbol is 
possible, and, therefore, its place is taken by the artificial 
word sign. 

Just as the percept, or its image, as a symbol, is an 
inseparable part of practical thought, so, when once 
an abstract idea has been definitely associated with a 



316 EDUCATION 

word sign, the word and the concept — the sign and its 
significance — are inseparably connected in thought 
processes. The word is, so to put it, not merely a 
deputy, but a deputy with full powers to act for the 
central authority. This must be so, if what we have 
said about the dependence of thought on language be 
true, for, in that case, to endeavour to get rid of the 
word-signs in a train of reasoning would be to render 
the reasoning impossible. 

Words represent the content of concepts in their 
most abbreviated and condensed forms. They fix most 
clearly and permanently in mind the expression of the 
ends, processes, and products of thought ; and they 
tend to make ideas more vivid and definite. Written 
language is a means of perpetuating the achievements 
of experience and reason, and so prevents loss, and 
much useless repetition of effort. 

At the same time, however, words often prove a very 
serious stumbling-block to thought and communication. 
Since it would be practically impossible to have an 
entirely different word for every different concept, 
much less for all the various shades of difference in each 
of our concepts — for this would prove too great a 
burden for the memory — we have to use the same sign 
for several ideas, or things. Thus the word box has 
many meanings, as is seen in the terms : clothes' box, 
box seat, shooting-box, boxer, horse-box, in the wrong 
box, and so on. Similarly the word tenderness varies 
in meaning according as it relates to personal affec- 
tion, softness of material, sensibility of a wound, and 
delicate handling. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 317 

Great practical advantage is derived from this economy 
of language, but there is great danger of confusion and 
error if the inevitable ambiguity is not provided for. 
It is often expedient in ordinary speech, and always 
necessary in cases where precision and accuracy are 
important, to make quite clear the particular sense in 
which we are using a word. Even when a word has 
only one meaning and reference, as in the case of 
oxygen, it is still possible to use it in a restricted sense 
— e.g., with regard to its combustion supporting power 
— and in so doing to mislead a beginner. 

Another very frequent and often serious source of 
mischief in the use of words is when one person, who 
has a very full content of meaning for certain words, 
uses them in his sense to another who has a very 
small content of meaning. Hence the adult often con- 
fuses the child, and is himself misled by words used 
by children. So, also, learned and ignorant persons 
misunderstand each other. 

As Dr. Sully remarks : " The fact that the child is 
hearing a highly developed language spoken about him, 
which embodies the finer distinctions of mature intelli- 
gence, must tend to bewilder his mind at first. He finds 
it hard to distinguish between closely related and over- 
lapping words, ; healthy ' and ' strong,' ' sensible ' and 
' clever,' and so forth." 

It is necessary, therefore, to constantly bear in mind 
these liabilities to error, and to take care to demand 
the exact significance of the sign where error is likely 
to arise through such causes as the above. But this 
must not be pressed too far, for the effort to be over- 



318 EDUCATION 

precise is apt to be as confusing as the lack of precision. 
Popularly accepted meanings, scientific assumptions, 
trade usages, personal implications, and contexts, all 
play their part in indicating the precise meaning of 
terms. A good practical rule is : when in doubt challenge 
the meaning. 

The necessity of taking account of these things is 
seen when we reflect that, after all, it is the ideas 
which we wish to develop or communicate. The words 
are in themselves simply the machinery, not the material, 
of thought and communication. 

Some General Remarks. — From the above it is clear 
that the general movement of ideational development 
is from sensuous elements to perceptual apprehension, 
and thence to conceptual abstractions. The higher, or 
conceptual, development we find to be dependent upon 
the use of language. Hence we may now see in greater 
fulness of detail what is implied in the three great 
stages of the general development of feeling, knowing, 
and willing. 

We may put the same point in other ways by saying 
that the line of progress is from experiences to ideas, 
and from ideas to language ; or, that the growth of 
ideas is from individual and particular ideas to general 
ideas. By particular ideas we mean groups of similar 
individual ideas, as to which the elements of generality 
are not consciously or fully realised. 

The inter-dependence of these cannot be too strongly 
insisted upon in view of the unity of the mental life as 
a whole. The percept involves an implicit concept, for 
its element of meaning is purely mental. The concept 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 319 

implies the percept, for it is only possible to abstract 
a mental meaning from that which has it. Both con- 
cept and percept depend upon sensations, for without 
these the existence of mental life, as we know it, would 
be impossible. 

Dr. Sully puts this very clearly in the following 
passage : " The powers of comparison and of abstraction 
in its wide sense are developed in connection with the 
process of perception itself, in carrying out those 
detailed operations of examining objects of sense on 
all sides which are involved in the formation of clear 
percepts. 

" Again, the power of seizing similarity in the midst 
of diversity, which is the essential process in building 
up notions of classes and the qualities of things, 
manifests itself in a lower form in the first year of life. 
To recognise the mother's voice, for example, as one and 
the same through all the changes of loudness and soft- 
ness, and all the variations of pitch, or her figure, 
through all the changes of light, distance, and position, 
clearly implies a certain rudimentary power of com- 
paring unlike impressions and detecting likeness amid 
this unlikeness." 

So also individual and particular ideas involve general 
ideas, for it is the recognition of a universal element 
in particular ideas which constitutes the general idea. 
The direct dependence of general ideas on individual 
ones is thus obvious. The inter-dependence is seen in 
detail in the consideration of inductive and deductive 
reasoning. 

Another point which needs special emphasis is the 



320 EDUCATION 

dependence of language on experience and thought. 
Language cannot exist without thought, or thought 
without experience; and language only exists, in a 
significant sense for the individual, in so far as it is 
directly connected, through his concepts and percepts, 
with some content of purely mental or general experi- 
ence. To read a paragraph of English on psychology, 
with plenty of technical terms in it, is, for all practical 
purposes, almost as meaningless to children — and, ex- a 
perience shows, to intelligent but uninstructed adults — 
as to read to them a passage of Chinese. 

Liebnitz says : " For the most part, especially in 
longer analyses, we do not behold at a glance the whole 
nature of the thing, but employ signs instead of things. 
We commonly omit, for the sake of expedition, any 
explication of these signs in present thought, knowing 
or believing that we have such explication in our power. 
Thus, when I think of a chiliagon, or a polygon of a 
thousand equal sides, I do not always expressly con- 
sider the nature of a side, of equality, and of a thou- 
sand (or cube of ten) ; but I employ these words — 
whose meaning is only obscurely and imperfectly 
perceived by the mind at once " (T. S. Baynes). 

There must, therefore, either through direct experi- 
ence, or through the interpretative power of thought 
as based upon experience, always be a real content of 
meaning put into a word by the individual himself — 
this includes the acceptance, after intelligent apprehen- 
sion, of what is offered as meaning by another — before it 
can have any proper significance for him. 

As has been previously pointed out, it is possible, 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS 321 

when a very advanced stage of mental power and skill 
has been reached, to, in some degree, work backwards 
from the sign to the thing signified ; but this is only 
possible where there is already a rich content of signifi- 
cance for all ordinary signs. Perhaps a good example, 
in a special form, of this is the skill which some few 
persons have shown in working out the meaning of 
private systems of mnemonics and shorthand, to which 
no direct key of any kind existed, so far as they 
knew. 

As a merely suggestive indication of the relation 
between the special development of ideas and the general 
order of development, the following statement may be 
submitted. In the first period, and in order of pre- 
dominant importance, we have : sense presentations, a 
gradual growth of percepts, increase of the fulness and 
definiteness of more or less implicit ideas, and a limited 
command of language. In the second period there will 
be : sense and percept presentations, an increasing 
thoroughness and systemisation of percepts, practical 
reasoning, elementary but progressive abstract ideas 
and reasoning, and a good command of language. 
During the third period the chief features will be : 
percept, sense, and concept presentations, great progress 
in thoroughness and systemisation of abstract ideas and 
reasonings, higher relatings of perceptual and sensuous 
elements, and a more or less complete familiarity with, 
and facility in the use of, language. These will vary 
at the beginning of the period, and in later years, 
according to the individuality and surroundings of a 
person. 

x 



CHAPTER VII 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION — (continued) 

We shall now be able to obtain a still fuller and more 
detailed idea of what is involved in the general " prin- 
ciple of development " in education ; and also to deal 
with some other principles. The fuller inquiry into a 
special element in the general development of an indi- 
vidual has given us a more complete insight into the 
precise order of progress ; and has also shown us the 
place and function of other important influences and 
conditions, viz., language and apperception, and the 
ways in which they affect development. 

The Principle of Development. — Following the previous 
method of treatment, we will discuss this principle 
under the various practical maxims which are generally 
accepted as guiding principles in practical teaching. 
As before, we shall find that they are in certain respects 
incomplete, and often somewhat misleading in their 
general suggestions ; but they will serve very well as 
texts through which the more precise truth can be 
interpreted. 

1. From the Concrete to the Abstract. — This will now 
be understood to mean : from presentations to percepts, 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 323 

and from percepts to concepts, in the building tip of 
each item of knowledge development. But it must still 
be borne in mind that the different stages of develop- 
ment require that we should proceed from presentation 
to presentation, next from percept to percept, then 
from percept to concept, afterwards from concept to 
concept, and finally, at least in the case of the more 
capable, from a constructive concept to the realisation 
of what certain possible percepts would mean for us, in 
mental effects. 

By the term " constructive concept " is meant a 
concept which is built up by the mind itself, apart 
from any single actual experience, direct from the con- 
cept elements given by various experiences. Those 
concepts which are directly formed from, and answer 
to, given percepts may be called " reproductive con- 
cepts, " since they only involve the separate reproduction 
of the purely mental effects of experience. We shall 
discuss this matter more fully when dealing with the 
principle of analysis and synthesis. 

Dr. Karl Lange, speaking of the child's gradual 
development, says : " As the compass of its outward 
experiences arrives at a certain completion only after 
the work of years, so also does the breadth of its 
consciousness, the power to grasp and retain ideas as a 
whole, increase but gradually. The epoch of develop- 
ment in which the child is able to think only in 
pictures is followed by another in which it really gives 
him pleasure to lift himself in the abstract above the 
confusing variety of individual objects up to the uni- 
versal law, that is, to rule and concept. " This points 



324 EDUCATION 

out the movement of development through presenta- 
tions, percepts, images, and concepts. 

As Pestalozzi says : " No matter what a teacher may 
attempt, he can at best do no more than assist the 
child's nature in the efforts it makes to unfold itself. 
To so manage that the instruction given to a child shall 
keep exact pace with the unfolding of his mind is one 
grand secret of education. " In so far as the develop- 
ment of ideas is concerned, this will mean : first from 
percepts to perceptual reasonings, and then from con- 
cepts to conceptual reasonings. It may be said that 
the former will very largely look after themselves, but 
the latter — and both, for their highest forms — need 
careful cultivation. 

The educator must, therefore, provide the proper 
presentative and perceptive experiences, in the best 
order, for producing full and exact ideas in the mind. 
When something like a considerable store of ideas has 
thus been acquired, the mind itself may be called upon 
to do much of the work for itself, by filling in the 
details of ideas, through its power of representing and 
recombining images and ideas. That is, there will be 
an advance from reproductive to constructive ideas, 
both practical and purely rational. 

To lead up to the formation of concepts, there will 
have to be a good deal in the way of simple experi- 
ment and verbal explanation. For example, if it be 
desired to get a pupil to form a full and accurate 
concept of squareness we must proceed somewhat after 
the following manner. All the necessary concrete ex- 
periences, or presentative elements, involved in ex- 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 325 

ploring a square object by the hands and eyes and 
measuring by a ruler and a set square, must be first 
employed, until they have produced permanently clear 
and distinct ideas. Thus the percept is secured. 

Then the verbal expression for a square should be 
deduced, or supplied. We will suppose that the follow- 
ing simple form is used : a square is a straight-lined, 
four-sided figure, with all its sides equal, and all its 
angles right angles. It is now required to get the 
mind to think only of the mental effects made by the 
concrete facts, and in so doing to entirely ignore, 
for the time being, the actual sense experiences in- 
volved. 

Assuming that the learner's mind is unfamiliar with 
the process of forming explicit concepts, we must care- 
fully lead up to the mental abstraction involved. In 
the first place we must vary the square shaped concrete 
material as much as possible, so as to, so to speak, 
loosen the connection between the mental effects and 
the sense experiences. If we have first dealt with the 
square face of a wooden cube, we might next take a 
very thin piece of wood which is square. Afterwards 
other materials should be used, such as iron, tin, copper, 
cloth, and paper; and the square should be of many 
sizes. Each of 'these should be as thin as possible. A 
square piece might be cut out of a very thin piece of 
shaving. This is to lead up to and suggest the fact that 
the minimum of material has all the conditions for 
being a square. Next cut out as much as possible of 
the material of the square, leaving only a very thin 
edging of it. This forms a still nearer approach to the 



326 EDUCATION 

idea of mere outline, shape, or iorni, which is the basis 
of the concept. 

Practically all that is possible has now been done in 
fining down the elements of concrete experience as 
involved in the idea. The next step is, therefore, an 
important one. We want to get from the material the 
something which it involves, but which can be separated 
from it. Happily the physical world itself gives us the 
necessary conditions. Let the last, and least, physical 
form of a square be held in front of a looking-glass. 

No very great difficulty is likely to be met with in 
getting the learner to grasp the fact that whilst there 
is none of the material of the actual square in the 
looking-glass, yet there is all of that which makes it a 
square for our minds, viz., its shape. There are the 
four straight and equal sides, and the four right angles, 
reflected in the glass ; and this reflection gives all that 
the mind requires for the idea of a square. It can now 
be pointed out that the idea of square has only to do 
with the shape, or form, of a thing. 

Finally, it remains to secure the mental realisation 
of the possible separateness of the idea from the experi- 
ence. The first approach to this is to require the 
learner to shut his eyes and try to see a picture of the 
square in his mind, in other words, to will the imaging 
of a square. He will doubtless be able to do this easily 
enough. Let him then be carefully questioned about 
it. He will probably describe it as like to the looking- 
glass reflection. He should then be asked if there were 
four sides ; if they appeared to be straight and equal 
sides ; and if the angles seemed to be right angles. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 327 

Now language may be properly brought in to assist 
pure thought. The learner can be told that a square 
thing is said to have squareness. He should then be 
questioned as to whether he thinks that the squareness 
of a thing can be seen by itself, as the thing is so seen. 
He ought not to have much difficulty, if the previous 
work has been thorough and successful, in grasping 
the fact that one can by seeing a thing judge that it is 
square, but cannot see its squareness, as such. Where 
then is the squareness, is the next point. Here again 
the learner ought now to be able to realise that it is 
simply the idea in the mind which expresses the mental 
effects produced by square objects. We cannot see, 
touch, hear, taste, or smell, squareness, we can only 
think it. 

Further, the total idea of squareness involves all the 
separate effects produced by the details of a square. 
That is, squareness implies straight-sicledness, four- 
sidedness, equal-sidedness, and right-angledness ; or, to 
use the technical terms of geometry, rectilinealness, 
quadrilateralness, equilateralness, and rectangularity. 
Each of these elements represents a mental abstraction, 
by which the mental effects of the distinct details of a 
complex experience are regarded as things in them- 
selves, though parts of a total mental whole. 

This may appear a long and laborious method by 
which to arrive at a single concept. But it must be 
remembered that not only is a concept thus most easily, 
fully, clearly, and accurately formed ; but the discipline 
in method derived from thus carefully forming one or 
two concepts is likely to give such facility, power, and 



328 EDUCATION 

skill, in the forming of explicit concepts, that the final 
results will be incomparably more extensive and in- 
tensive in product, and more rapid and accurate in 
process, than any haphazard blundering into success, 
through force of circumstances, and severe struggles. 
It is not success in doing one thing that is primarily 
aimed at by the educator, but the finally obtaining 
power to do many things successfully. 

It should be noticed that, in the above example, the 
conceptual elements are always based upon, and derived 
from, the perceptual. The young thinker must always 
have a foundation in experience, wherever possible. 

Canon Daniel has well said : " Children are not 
sufficiently required to use their senses. They are 
allowed to observe by deputy. They look at nature 
through the spectacles of books, and through the eyes 
of the teacher, but do not observe for themselves .... 
[Teachers] have taught as though their pupils had eyes 
that saw not, and ears that heard not, and noses that 
smelled not, and palates that tasted not, and skins that 
felt not, and muscles that would not work. They have 
insisted on taking the words out of nature's mouth and 
speaking for her. They have thought it derogatory to 
play a subordinate part to the object itself." 

2. From the Particular to the General. — A presentation, 
or a percept, must always refer directly, and only, to 
just this or that object. It is this or that impression 
which is actually influencing the mind at the moment. 
Hence it is impossible for it, in itself, to refer to, imply, 
or involve, anything except itself. To put the point in 
another way, a percept of this page or this book is just 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 329 

itself and nothing else ; nor does it, or can it, directly 
involve any other percept or percepts. It is true that 
the effects of other experiences are involved in the 
interpreting of the present one, but this element of 
interpretation is an essential part of the percept, so 
that neither interpretation nor percept exists apart from 
each other. 

Because of this we say that a presentation or a 
percept is an individual thing. In so far as, from the 
point of view of later knowledge, it is one of a large 
class of like presentations or percepts it is said to be 
particular, because it is a part only of a general or 
common class of things. 

From the idea of a single concrete whole, we gradu- 
ally arrive, through repeated and extended experiences, 
at what we have called the collective idea of a group of 
similar concrete wholes. Not that such wholes need 
actually be seen in a group, but that the mind can 
think of the repeated percepts as though they occurred 
together. This may be called a concrete general idea. 

When the idea, and its elements, as such, are 
separated from the impressions which give rise to them, 
and come to exist as those distinct mental wholes 
which we term concepts, then the idea, as such, is 
entirely and purely general, for it stands for a possible 
infinity of like things, so far as certain mental effects 
produced by them are concerned. 

Thus there is a movement from the particular to the 
general. This is true not only of ideas but also of 
judgments, when an inductive judgment is being formed, 
and, therefore, of reasonings. Also, the general move- 



330 EDUCATION, 

ment consists of several stages. First, we have the 
progress from the particular to the particular, then 
from particulars to generals, next from generals to 
other generals — wider, in induction ; or in deduction as 
wide, or less wide, but not wider — -or to particulars. 

We may illustrate the maxim by the following. A 
child gets a clear idea of an oak-tree, through frequent 
experiences connected with one near its home. As it 
grows able to run about more it sees other oak-trees, 
and its idea becomes more full and distinct. In time 
it will have a satisfactorily distinct idea of an oak-tree, 
and will, as a rule, be able to identify one without 
hesitation or mistake. This movement from the 
particular to the particular makes the individual idea 
clear and distinct. 

As time goes on the idea will take on a collective 
significance, that is, it will stand for all the oak-trees 
the individual has actually seen or heard about. That 
is, the child now has what we have called the concrete 
general idea. Later on the essential characteristics 
and qualities of an oak-tree will be known, and the 
learner will be able to make the judgment : all trees 
which have such-and-such qualities are oak-trees.' Now 
the true general idea is formed, and the learner realises 
what a class is, in the scientific sense of the term. The 
movement from the particular to the general, in its 
fullest sense, has now been made. 

Next we may suppose that the individual notices 
that the order of events in the life of a tree results in 
the production of seeds every year, and, so far as he 
understands the nature of the tree's life, he judges that 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 331 

this result must inevitably occur under normal condi- 
tions. He, therefore, asserts that all oak-trees produce 
seed. It will be seen that this is a higher kind of 
generalisation than the former; for that was but a 
formal or classifying judgment, whilst this is judgment 
about cause and effect, and gives us what we may call 
constructive knowledge about all oak-trees. 

From this last-mentioned judgment the scientific 
observer, investigator, and thinker, is able to hazard, 
and finally establish, the wider inductive judgment that: 
all living organisms reproduce themselves. Thus from 
a limited generalisation comes an absolutely universal 
one. Again from this we may reason backwards thus : 
all organisms are reproductive ; all trees are organisms ; 
therefore, all trees are reproductive. So we get deduc- 
tively from a wider to a less wide' general judgment. 
And, finally, we may reason down to the particular, 
thus : all trees are reproductive ; a mulberry is a tree ; 
therefore, a mulberry is reproductive. 

Such a procedure is by far the easiest, surest, and 
most fruitful, method by which the beginner can 
acquire knowledge. As Mr. Herbert Spencer points 
out : " General formulas which men have devised to 
express groups of detail, and which have severally 
simplified their conceptions by uniting many facts 
into one fact, they have supposed must simplify the 
conceptions of a child also. They have forgotten 
that a generalisation is simple only in comparison 
with the whole mass of particular truths it com- 
prehends — that it is more complex than any one of 
these truths taken singly — that only after many of 



332 EDUCATION 

these single truths have been acquired, does the 
generalisation ease the memory and help the reason — 
and that to a mind not possessing these single truths it 
is necessarily a mystery. Thus confounding two kinds 
of simplification, teachers have constantly erred by 
setting out with ' first principles ' : a proceeding essen- 
tially, though not apparently, at variance with the 
primary rule, which implies that the mind should be 
introduced to principles through the medium of ex- 
amples, and so should be led from the particular to the 
general." 

The whole process is really one of systematic apper- 
ception. An apperceptive group is formed, and all 
further and deeper knowledge about the same kind of 
things is apperceived by it. The more closely the 
educator can cause the influences to correspond with 
the proper order of mental development, the more 
easily, completely, and accurately, will the apperceptive 
group develop. In other words, the teacher should, as 
a rule, not begin with a definition, law, or formula, but 
end with it. 

Dr. De Garmo says : " Education must make it a 
special business to teach the child to pass easily from 
the individual to the general, because the generalisations 
of children, savages, and uneducated or poorly educated 
persons are very elementary and incomplete. They do 
not contain all the characteristics common to a given 
class, nor do they exclude all characteristics which 
were only in certain individuals. The untrained 
thinker is content with types chosen from among in- 
dividuals ; so that, even in the formation of general 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 333 

conceptions regarding things, the mind must be trained 
to distinguish the essential from the non-essential. 
But if this be true of things, how much more must it 
be true in regard to ... . the necessary relation of 
things " (Essentials of Method). 

A word or two is necessary here as to what charac- 
teristics shall be regarded as essential, in the sense of 
constituting the general idea, or class concept. In the 
first place they must, of course, be common to every 
member of the class. Next they must be causal and 
not casual, that is, they must have some definite con- 
nection with the very existence of the individuals 
composing the class, and not be mere accidental features. 
Thus, the fact of being able to breathe when in and 
under water, and unable to breathe when out of it, and 
not the fact of spending its life in the water marks off 
the real fish kind from such animals as the whale. 
Finally, the attributes should be as few as possible, so 
long as they clearly and unmistakably mark off, and 
mark out, one class from another. Only scientific 
experts can settle such points authoritatively. 

Whilst it is hardly possible to attach too much 
importance to this order of progress from the particular 
to the general, yet here, as elsewhere in the mental life, 
the two elements are developing simultaneously, though 
in very different proportions. It is again a case of pro- 
portional waning and waxing (in predominance only), 
respectively, of the two elements. This must be recog- 
nised ; and there should always be provision for, and 
encouragement of, that which is at first subordinate. 

Language is always an implicit helper in this matter, 



334 EDUCATION" 

and should be made an explicit one, so far as the 
educator is concerned. Thus, in teaching the child to 
call a certain animal a dog, and then other animals 
which are like it, on the whole, but unlike it as to details, 
by the same name, we are, either implicitly or explicitly, 
helping them to develop the general and the particular 
elements of ideas at the same time. The more this is 
attended to by the educator, the greater will be the pro- 
gress towards accurate general ideas on the part of the 
learner. 

But this should be, so to say, concealed from the 
child, that is, no effort should be made to make the 
general elements of ideas explicit, until there is a full 
and facile command of the elements of explicit indi- 
vidual and particular ideas. Nothing should be done 
which is likely to hinder the latter development, or, in 
the long run, the former will be even more hindered in 
consequence. 

The practical progress of the general idea can be very 
much helped through a system of word combinations. 
Thus the animal in the house which is known as a dog 
will also doubtless be known by another name, say, 
Carlo. This fact may be made use of by sometimes 
requiring the child to say Carlo-dog. "When its experi- 
ence of clogs extend, then it may be taught to say : 
dog, not Carlo-dog. Later on will come: dog, little- 
dog, poodle-dog, little-poodle-dog, big- white-poodle-dog, 
and so on. 

Such word combinations should, however, not be 
used too frequently, or they may prove puzzling, and 
hinder more than help. Their only purpose is to get the 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 335 

learner to express something of the connection of the 
ideas by a connection of words, which will always sug- 
gest somewhat of the inner truth, and, finally, should 
directly indicate it. This kind of term building is seen 
in its most scientific and suggestive form in the tech- 
nical terms of botany and chemistry. 

A basis of such verbal help is already provided in the 
child's own efforts, assisted by the mother or nurse, at 
connecting imitative gesture language with the purely 
conventional in such combinations as "moo-cow," and 
" bow-wow-dog." The effect of a purposeful organisa- 
tion of words on such lines is to provide a strong 
mechanical momentum towards general ideas. The 
common name in all the combinations represents the 
class, or general element, and the varying words repre- 
sent the different sub-classes or individuals, and, there- 
fore, the particular or individual elements. 

At the proper time in the general development all 
these points will be made explicit, and then there will 
be no further need of such complex terms, for mental 
association will do far more than word combinations can 
possibly accomplish. The mind will fill the verbal 
form with content, without much detailed suggestion 
from the word itself. 

The highest educational success is to obtain such a 
mastery, by the individual, of the processes involved in 
the development from the particular to the general, that 
either a progressive or regressive advance has become 
comparatively easy and reliable. 

The Principle of Analysis and Synthesis.— As we have 
before stated, all progress in thought involves higher 



336 EDUCATION 

and deeper forms of the fundamental processes of 
the mental powers of assimilation and discrimination. 
We have seen that the highest forms of these are in- 
ductive and deductive reasoning, and that the) 7 are, 
respectively, essentially analytic and synthetic in their 
nature. Hence the principle of analysis and synthesis 
is one of the most fundamental, general, and significant, 
of all the educational principles. 

It is through a scientifically logical arrangement of 
the elements dealt with in analysing and synthesising 
that we obtain the order of greatest simplicity in dealing 
with a complex whole, "and are thus able to lead the 
learner from the more known to the less known by 
gradual, consecutive, coherent, and systematic steps and 
stages. In fact, it is hardly too much to say that, from 
the point of view of practical work in educating, this 
principle must always take the first place as the con- 
trolling element in the organisation of method. 

The ability to discriminate or realise differences be- 
tween two or more experiences is necessary for the mere 
possibility of knowledge ; for, an absolute similarity of 
mental effect from all impressions would mean an un- 
known, and unknowable, world. Similarly, the power 
to recognise, or assimilate, that is, to realise similarity 
or likeness, is absolutely essential to the actual building 
up of knowledge ; for, meaning and significance come 
from the relating of the new to the old, the presentative 
to the re-presentative. Thus, difference is, logically, 
most important for the beginnings of knowledge, and 
assimilation for the actual forming and developing of it. 
The same kind of thing is true, in a physical sense, in 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 337 

the case of all forms of organic life : there must be a 
proper power of selection and assimilation. 

A special capacity for particular kinds of assimilation 
and discrimination is the active element in the develop- 
ment of individuality. Dr. Bain says : " This is the 
deepest foundation of disparity of intellectual character, 
as well as of variety in likings and pursuits. If, from 
the beginning, one man can interpolate five shades of 
discrimination of colour where another can feel but one 
transition, the careers of the two men are foreshadowed 
and will be widely apart." But this view must not be 
pressed too far, for some of the highest powers are the 
latest in significant development. As a rule, we should 
have a sufficiently general survey of a more or less fully 
developed individual before making anything like final 
judgments on such matters. 

Two of the most essential conditions for impressing 
differences are juxtaposition, and intensity of stimulus. 
Unlike things placed side by side cannot but compel 
attention to the fact of unlikeness, if the elements in- 
volved are sufficiently powerful as stimuli to command 
the attention. At the same time, however, the intensity 
of the stimuli must not be too great, or the effects of 
contrast will be lost in the state of surprise, or wonder. 

The condition of co-presentation is of great impor- 
tance, because representative elements are seldom so full 
and vivid as presentative ones, and the points of con- 
trast are, therefore, much less sharply defined if there 
is any considerable interval between the presentations 
of the things compared. 

As a rule, the intensity of the stimuli involved should 

Y 



333 EDUCATION 

be of an average degree, and only when there is some 
difficulty in getting the learner to grasp the differences 
should extreme or exaggerated forms be made use of. 
If there is great facility and accuracy in discrimination, 
then the intensity of the stimuli may be somewhat 
below the average, for the purpose of calling forth an 
even keener exercise of the power. 

Dr. Bain thus illustrates the use of juxtaposition : 
" "We compare two notes by sounding them in close suc- 
cession ; two shades of colour by placing them side by 
side ; two weights by holding them in the two hands, 

and attending to the two feelings by turns For 

mere length we lay the two things alongside ; so for an 
angle. For number we can place two groups in con- 
tiguous rows — three by the side of four or five — and 

observe the surplus Sometimes there is a strong 

and overpowering similarity, with a small and uncon- 
spicuous difference, as in our cyphers (compare 3 and 5), 
and in the letters of our alphabet (C and G), and still 
more in the Hebrew alphabet. For such comparisons, 
the difference, such as it is, needs to be very clearly 
drawn or even exaggerated. Another method is to have 
models of the same size to lay over one another." 

But beside juxtaposition and intensity there are two 
other conditions which greatly assist in making discri- 
mination complete and permanent. These are repetition, 
and multiplication, of instances. Such are in fact 
nothing more than the application of the principle of 
repetition. 

Each of the above four conditions applies with equal 
force to the impressing of points of similarity upon the 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 339 

mind ; in addition to which the laws of association also 
apply. Further, the principle of preparation is of very 
great assistance. 

Discrimination is a form of analysis, for it separates 
the different elements of experience from each other ; 
and assimilation is a form of synthesis, for it combines 
in thought those experiences which, as a whole, are like 
each other. When both activities are applied to the 
parts and details of one and the same object, the 
separating and combining processes are more clearly 
seen. Hence, wherever there is discrimination and assi- 
milation there is analysis and synthesis : and wherever 
there is analysis and synthesis there is discrimination 
and assimilation. 

Throughout the whole range of thought, therefore, 
the principle of analysis and synthesis is always active. 
But, whilst analysis can never do more than clearly 
realise each separate element of a whole, though this 
involves great advance in power with regard to the more 
complex, and the purely rational, wholes, synthesis pro- 
gresses from the recombining of the details of a given 
whole, as given by analysis, to the selecting of certain 
elements given in various experiences, and the com- 
bining of these into wholes which have never before 
been met with in the individual's own experiences. 

Synthesis is, therefore, said to be reproductive or 
constructive. The former is inevitable ; but there must 
first be a familiarity with, and power and skill in, repro- 
ductive synthesis, before constructive synthesis is likely 
to be either possible or sound. Also, a store of material 
gained by previous efforts must have been acquired. 



340 EDUCATION 

No constructive effort is possible unless there be some- 
thing to construct from. 

It is this power of constructive synthesis which 
characterises the most capable and original minds. In 
the higher regions of thought, we speak of it as the 
power of inventiveness, discovery, original investigation 
and research, ability, talent, or genius. As a matter of 
fact, these powers are shown very early in an individual's 
life, in very modest ways. Quite young children can 
invent and discover, so far as their own knowledge is 
concerned. In other words, if they have obtained an 
intelligent mastery of reproductive synthesis, they 
should be able, in however humble a way, to do some- 
thing in the way of constructive synthesis. 

At every stage in the child's career he should pass 
from the imitative to the initiative mastery of a subject, 
or part of a subject. This is the most valuable evidence 
of intelligent self-activity, and shows that the educative 
processes have been entirely successful. It is, therefore, 
most desirable that the educator should encourage and 
stimulate such synthetic efforts on the part of the 
learner. They should be looked upon as the crowning 
point of each step and stage of development, and proper 
provision for securing good results in them should be 
made. 

Dr. Sully says : " Children find out many new com- 
binations of movements for themselves. The mere 
pleasure of doing a thing, and of overcoming a difficulty, 
is an ample reward for many an effort in practical con- 
struction. Such activity is, moreover, closely connected 
with the impulse of curiosity, the desire to find out 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 341 

about things, their structure and less obvious qualities. 
In this way practical invention assists in the discovery 
of facts and truths. A considerable part of a boy's 
knowledge of things is thus gained experimentally, 
that is to say, by means of actively dividing, joining 
together, and otherwise manipulating objects." 

Children show an inventive activity very early in life. 
Darwin says that one of his children, when he was just a 
year old, invented the word " mum " as a name for all 
kinds of food. He further invented additional sounds 
for particular kinds of food, calling sugar " shu-mum." 
All teachers know how all too apt children are to 
invent such verbal forms as " go-ed," " come-d," and the 
like. 

There should, however, be nothing like asking the 
pupils to make bricks without straw. . They should have 
been previously well furnished with the raw material, 
and such simple suggestions and indications as will make 
the first trials fairly easy, and likely to be successful. 
Discouragement in little things should be avoided as 
far as possible, or encouragement for bigger efforts will 
be hard to provide. 

Some such method as the following might be used. 
When certain kinds of exercises are quite familiar to 
the learner, let him be required to reproduce two or 
more of them, selected by the educator with a view to 
the further treatment of them. Then, after being given 
what suggestions and help, if any, are thought to be 
necessary, the pupil should be asked to combine the 
two exercises into an intelligible and consistent whole. 
Thus two anecdotes might be worked up into one ; two 



342 EDUCATION 

designs in drawing made into a single design ; or two 
sums combined in one problem ; the materials in each 
case being given by the reproduced exercises. Next, 
the pupil should try to frame other such combinations, 
being guided by the model already worked out. This 
will involve his selecting his own material, and making 
the combination by himself. Finally, he should be in- 
vited to attempt something involving quite different 
sorts of materials, and another kind of combination 
— " all out of his own head," as children say. 

Very surprising results are sometimes obtained by 
giving school children the opportunity to do this kind 
of work, although absolutely no previous specific prepara- 
tion for, or effort in, it has been made. Most difficult 
arithmetical problems, in the various rules they have 
been taught, are invented and worked by small boys. 
Excellent original stories are written by young scholars, 
and very happy designs in colour and geometrical out- 
lines are made by them. Some very meritorious and 
instructive examples of such are published in the 
" School Field Magazine," 1890-94 (Longmans), which 
gives specimens of the actual work done by children in 
an experimental school organised by Mr. Sargeant. 

Such products are of the highest possible educational 
value, for they represent the development of the mind 
up to creative ability, and they express the individuality 
of the learner. They may be small and simple things 
in themselves, but, if obtained at the appropriate periods, 
they are great results, and full of possibilities for the 
future. 

A German writer, named Lazarus, has well said: 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 343 

" Neither discoveries nor inventions are made in the 
school; neither are discoveries or inventions brought to 
maturity there, but the pupils should be so trained as 
to discover what has already been discovered, to in- 
vestigate what has been investigated, to seek for what 
has been found." Obviously the first part of this is 
only true from the point of view of the adult, for to the 
child there is a real discovery ; but the central truth, 
that children must realise and master the methods of 
discovery and investigation, is the important point. 
Only so can they fully and intelligently realise and 
appreciate the work of original investigators and dis- 
coverers. That is what the poet means when he says : 
" What you have inherited from your fathers, you 
must earn again in order to possess it; " (Lange). 

Moreover this effort after constructive command is a 
native tendency of the child, which gives it very much, 
and great, pleasure. The late Professor Tyndall, speak- 
ing of his experiences as a teacher, says : " It was often 
my custom to give the boys their choice of pursuing 
their propositions in the book, or of trying their 
strength at others not to be found there. Never in a 
single instance have I known the book to be chosen. I 
was ever ready to assist when I deemed help needful, 
but my offers of assistance were habitually declined. 
The boys had tasted the sweets of intellectual conquest 

and demanded victories of their own Some of 

the most delightful hours of my existence have been 
spent in marking the vigorous and cheerful expansion 
of mental power, when appealed to in the manner I 
have described." 



344 EDUCATION 

Mr. Page, an American writer, says of a class of boys 
about fourteen years of age : " A difficult problem in 
algebra had been before the class for a day or two, 
when I suggested giving them some assistance. ' Not 
yet, sir,' was the exclamation of nearly all. Nor shall 
I forget the expression that beamed from the face of 
one, when — forgetting in his elation the school pro- 
prieties — he cried out ' I've got it ! I've got it ! ' It was 
a proud moment for him. He felt his own power as he 
had never done before. Nor was I less gratified to find 
that his fellows were still unwilling to be told the 
method of his solution. Next day a large proportion 
brought the example correctly solved, the working 
giving evidence of originality." 

The special value of such self- development is thus 
described by Mr. Herbert Spencer : " In the first place, 
it guarantees a vividness and permanency of impression 
which the usual methods can never produce. Any 
piece of knowledge which the pupil has himself 
acquired — any problem which he has himself solved, 
becomes, by virtue of the conquest, much more 
thoroughly his than it could else be. The preliminary 
activity of mind which his success implies, the concen- 
tration of thought necessary to it, and the excitement 
consequent on his triumph, conspire to register the 
facts in his memory in a way that no mere information 
heard from a teacher, or read in a school-book, can be 
registered. 

" Even if he fails, the tension to which his faculties 
have been wound up, insures his remembrance of the 
solution when given to him, better than half-a-dozen 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 345 

repetitions would. Observe, again, that this discipline 
necessitates a continuous organisation of the knowledge 
he acquires. It is in the very nature of facts and 
inferences assimilated in this normal manner, that they 
successively become the premises of further conclusions 
— the means of solving further questions. The solution 
of yesterday's problem helps the pupil in mastering 
to-day's." 

Dr. Bain speaks of " a tenfold power in the feeling 

of organisation Now, it is one of the delicate 

arts of an accomplished instructor, to lay before the 
pupils a set of facts pointing to a conclusion, and to 
leave them to draw the conclusion for themselves. 
Exactly to hit the mean between a leap too small to 
have any merit, and one too wide for the ordinary 
pupil, is a fine adjustment and a great success." 

As Froebel says : " A child between one and three 
years old, playing alone, will first examine shape and 
colour of an object which it can lay hold of and handle ; 
will try its solidity ; will then endeavour to take it to 
pieces, at least to alter its form so as to detect new 
qualities in it, and put it to new uses. This done, it is 
seen trying either to reunite the parts or to arrange 
them into a fresh whole." There is probably some 
exaggeration here in the suggestion of a definite design 
to make a new whole ; but there is certainly much 
more of implicit purpose in what is too often ignorantly 
called the mischievous destructiveness of a child, than 
the ordinary observer is likely to detect. 

Childish activities thus illustrate what we must 
always insist upon : the fact that analysis and syn- 



346 EDUCATION 

thesis are but complementary parts, or phases, of one 
complete process of thought, whether the thought be 
superficial or profound. In every implicit complex 
percept or concept, and much more, therefore, in all 
that are explicit, both analysis and synthesis have taken 
place. The former has realised and discriminated the 
separate parts and details, and the latter has combined 
them into a self- consistent whole. In every judgment 
the concepts involved are first thought of analytically, 
for they are regarded as at least separate and distinct, 
however much they may resemble each other ; and are 
then synthesised into the intelligible mental whole which 
we call a judgment. The same conditions hold as to 
the connecting of judgments in reasonings. 

This truth must not be educationally abused. Whilst 
it is necessary that the learner should form ideas, judg- 
ments, and reasonings, through an explicit and detailed 
use of analysis and synthesis, so as to obtain the neces- 
sary power, skill, and facility, for doing this whenever 
it is desirable ; yet there is no need whatever for always 
proceeding in such a precise way. On the contrary, we 
must learn to economise mental strength and energy, by 
making every legitimate short cut in thought, so long as 
such are based upon explicit experiences and knowledge, 
and we have the power of making the process explicit 
if required. 

The application of the principle of analysis and syn- 
thesis in the region of pure thought, or reasoning, may 
be shown by considering a first lesson on grammar. 
This should be about the simple sentence, for that is the 
known unit from which the unknown technical details 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 347 

are best derived. The force of the educational principle 
is specially well shown here, because we realise it in 
grammatical analysis. By asking the pupils to mention 
topics to be talked about, a column of subjects can 
easily be obtained. Then they should be requested to 
say something about each of these subjects. Thus the 
predicates are provided, and complete sentences formed. 
Not only has grammatical analysis thus been performed, 
under the guidance of the teacher, but it has been done 
by way of synthesis, and the learners will easily ex- 
press the full synthesis of the details thus arrived at in 
some such descriptive definition as : a sentence consists 
of two parts, something which is spoken of, and that 
which is said about it. 

It is always thus. The very fact that we are, as a 
rule, dealing with a whole which must always remain a 
whole, makes it necessary that analysis and synthesis 
should proceed concurrently. A unit becomes a unity, 
or a unity becomes a more detailed and complex one, 
through the further activity of thought upon mental 
wholes. 

This principle is involved in the maxims : from the 
known to the unknown : from the simple to the com- 
plex : from the concrete to the abstract : and, from the 
general to the particular. Professor Laurie expresses it 
in the following practical rules : " Teach all that is 
complex analytico-synthetically, i.e., reduce an object 
to its elements, and then build it up again ; practise 
pupils in the analysis of complex things and the syn- 
thesis of many particulars in one whole, in order to 
train to exactness of conception ; teach generalisations 



348 EDUCATION 

as generalisations, i.e., advance from the particular to 
the general, from the concrete to the abstract ; teach 
reasonings as reasonings, i.e., get the pupil to make 
explicit all implicit reasonings." 

An example of causal analysis and synthesis will 
show the highest application of the principle. Let us 
take the case in which we wish to lead up to the in- 
ductive judgment : water must always seek its own level. 
This is to be arrived at through observation, experiment, 
analysis (physical and mental), and judgment. 

Take a piece of wood, a handful of wool, and a glass 
of water. Let the wool and wood be dropped, and the 
water poured on the ground. Then questions should 
obtain answers which express the fact that little, if any, 
change of shape has taken place in the first two, but a 
very great deal in the last. Now let them be put into a 
vessel with holes in it, smaller that either the size of the 
wood or wool. The wool can be pushed and pulled 
through, but not the wood, whilst the water pushes itself 
through. Skilful questioning should now obtain the 
judgment that water moves about very freely, because 
its parts do not hold together like those of the wood and 
wool. This gives the element of difference, in the sense 
of the logical " method of difference," for discovering 
causes. 

Next let the water be poured into a small hollow 
india-rubber ball. Then, if a pin is thrust through it 
in various places all round, the water will be seen to 
come out. Here, again, therefore, the water is found to 
be pushing itself, so to speak. But it is now further 
seen that it pushes itself in all directions. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 349 

Now take a glass vessel of the shape of a watering- 
pot, with a telescopic spout. Let the spout be full 
out at first, and the pot gradually filled with water. 
It will be seen that some of the water is pushed up 
the spout until it is level with that in the pot. 
Pauses should be made to show this. When the pot 
is full, then let the telescopic spout be gradually 
lowered beyond the level of the top of the pot. Then 
sufficient water will be pushed out, through the 
shortened spout, to establish a new level. And so the 
movement will go on with each lowering of the spout. 

From this it will be seen that the level is always 
determined by the limits of that which resists the 
pressure which the water is exerting upon itself; in 
other words, the water will keep on moving itself till 
something stops it, and this will only be when the 
water, as a body, has a level surface. Therefore, it is 
clear, from what is thus seen of the nature of water, 
that it must always seek its own level. Of course the 
liquid condition is taken for granted. 

Thus, though our idea of water has remained 
throughout as a mental unit, it has been filled in with 
detail, and has become a complex unity, through 
further analysis and re-synthesis. From what is dis- 
covered of its practical nature, we are able to say that 
water, in a liquid state, must always and everywhere, 
under ordinary conditions, seek its own level. This 
is a judgment as to cause and effect, and represents 
the highest form of rational generalisation, viz., causal 
induction. It has been arrived at through concurrent 
perceptual and conceptual reasonings. 



350 EDUCATION 

Many interesting problems can be submitted to the 
learner concerning this principle, as to the water 
supply of a town, the working of canal locks, and the 
making of fountains. He might be invited to invent 
a toy fountain, if he lias obtained the necessary tech- 
nical knowledge and manual skill, through manual in- 
struction classes, or otherwise. 

Few would deny that such a form of education is 
likely to be attractive and stimulating to the indi- 
vidual, and to prove effective and sound in drawing 
out, strengthening, sharpening, and polishing the 
mental powers. 

The veiy highest value of the principle of analysis 
and synthesis is that it is the best possible training for 
self- education, in that it gives the learner right 
methods of work, and the power and facility in apply- 
ing them. 

Mr. Herbert Spencer urges that a principle " which 
cannot be too strongly insisted upon, is, that in educa- 
tion the process of self-development should be en- 
couraged to the uttermost. Children should be led to 
make their own investigations, and to draw their own 
inferences. They should be told as little as possible, 
and induced to discover as much as possible. Humanity 
has progressed solely by self-instruction ; and that to 
achieve the best results, each mind must progress some- 
what after the same fashion, is continually proved by 
the marked success of self-made men." 

In further support of this he points out that : "the 
all-important knowledge of surrounding objects which 
a child gets in its early years, it got without help .... 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 351 

the child is self-taught in the use of its mother 
tongue ; " and, . that there is a large " amount of that 
experience of life, that out-of-school wisdom which 
every boy gathers for himself." He reminds his readers 
of " the unusual intelligence of the uncared-for London 
gamin, as shown in whatever direction his faculties 
have been tasked," and of the fact that " many minds 
have struggled up unaided, not only through the 
mysteries of our irrationally-planned curriculum, but 
through hosts of other obstacles besides." Therefore, 
he says, it is " a not unreasonable conclusion, that 
if the subjects be put before him in right order 
and right form, any pupil of ordinary capacity will 
surmount his successive difficulties with but little 
assistance." 

Eousseau is not less emphatic than is his wont about 
the same truth. He contends that : " Educated in the 
spirit of our principles, accustomed to look for resources 
within himself, and to have recourse to others only 
when he finds himself really helpless, he will examine 
every new object for a long time without saying a word. 
He is thoughtful, and not disposed to ask questions. 
Be satisfied, therefore, with presenting objects at 
appropriate times and in appropriate ways." (Emile. 
Miss Worthington's translation). 

The Principle of Symbolism. — A good deal has been 
said about the necessity of symbols for the higher 
developments of thought. Besides this fundamental 
place of language in the progress of the purely rational 
powers, we have to take into consideration the fact 
that language is the great channel through which we 



352 EDUCATION 

bring most of the educative influences to bear upon 
the mind. 

The way in which thought is carried on through 
verbal signs — whether spoken, written, or only thought 
■ — is, perhaps, best shown in the learning of a new 
language. First there is the very laborious and trouble- 
some work of getting a ready and accurate association 
between the right words and the right ideas. The ease 
with which a person goes wrong in this is often painfully 
apparent when we hear a foreigner, who is just beginning 
to learn our own language, try to speak it, but very 
hard to realise when we begin to speak a foreign 
language. Genders and cases are apt to prove especially 
provoking in this respect. 

Another point worthy of notice is the way in which 
we very slowly, and with great difficulty, make out the 
meaning, in English, of a foreign language, even from 
printed matter. Much more difficult is it when the 
words are spoken. We find ourselves slowly saying 
or thinking the words, one by one, and searching for 
the right English equivalents. Later on this is done 
more readily, but still we find that we have to ex- 
plicitly think out the exact meaning. If we wish to 
speak in the new language, the details of the process 
are still more obvious. We think in English, and 
slowly translate the thought mentally — probably with 
grave anxiety as to the words and their right order — 
and then try to speak it. 

But, finally, there arrives the happy time when, as 
we say, we are able to think in the language. Now 
the word counters are all-sufficient, for their separate 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 353 

and combined values are so familiar and well under- 
stood that they literally go without saying. The full 
meaning is conveyed to the mind by a mere hurried 
sight, or hearing, of the thought symbols. Now we 
can realise more fully the value of words for thought. 

All this is of the greatest possible significance to 
the educator, for to the child, what we call his own 
language is not his until he has acquired it in the 
above sense. If we wish to convince ourselves of this, 
we can easily do so by reading a piece of Carlyle to a 
small child, or by getting some friend to talk to us in 
a highly technical form of language, which we have no 
previous knowledge of, and observing how unmeaning 
it all is. It is not very helpful to most persons to 
inform them — in fact they are not so informed — that 
a physiological being is a unit and unity of systematic 
anatomical articulation. 

It is very amusing to hear an Englishman trying to 
make a foreigner, ignorant of English, understand what 
he is saying to him in English, by shouting it at the 
top of his voice, under the impression that if he only 
hears it plainly he must understand it. And it would 
be equally amusing were the consequences involved 
not much more serious, to hear a teacher doing exactly 
the same kind of thing with his pupils. 

We may safely say that there is more need of educa- 
tional system and gradation in the development of the 
acquiring and using of language, than even in 
knowledge-subjects proper ; for the sign is much more 
likely to be misleading in communication, than the 
thing signified in experience. Very careful attention 

z 



354 EDUCATION 

must, therefore, be given to this subject by the edu- 
cator. 

Rousseau says, in his characteristically trenchant 
way : "I do not disapprove of a nurse's amusing the 
child with songs, and with blithe and varied tones. But 
I disapprove of her perpetually deafening him with a 
multitude of useless words, of which he understands 
only the tone she gives them. 

"I would like the first articulate sounds he must 
hear to be few in number, easy, distinct, often repeated. 
The words they form should represent only material 
objects which can be shown him. Our unfortunate 
readiness to content ourselves with words that have 
no meaning to us whatever, begins earlier than we 
suppose 

" Children who are too much urged to speak have not 
time sufficient for learning either to pronounce carefully 
or to understand thoroughly what they are made to say. 
If, instead, they are left to themselves, they first 
practise using the syllables they can most readily utter ; 
and gradually attaching to these some meaning that 
can be gathered from their gestures, they give you 
their own words befoi'e acquiring yours. Thus they 
receive yours only after they understand them. Not 
being urged to use them, they notice carefully what 
meaning you give them ; and when they are sure of 
this, they adopt it as their own." 

Let us, then, first briefly review the development of 
language in the race, to see what it has to teach us 
concerning the forms which have been found most 
suggestive and convenient. We have already treated 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 355 

somewhat fully of the general nature and history of lan- 
guage, in the discussion on the connection between ideas 
and language. It may be helpful, however, to add a 
few words about the development of written language. 

Written language is, like vocal language, purely 
imitative in its earliest forms. Picture-writing is the 
first kind of written language. Crude outlines of 
animals are found among the historical survivals of the 
stone age. These in time, probably later than the stony 
age, developed into a connected series showing the 
details of the chase. The Esquimaux of to-day covers 
his weapons with outline drawings of animals and 
hunting scenes. The Eed Indian developed the art of 
picture writing to very great precision and fulness. 
But this represents great progress in general, as well 
as special, development. Some aborigines of Australia 
were found to be unable even to identify any draw- 
ing except a most exaggerated outline of a man, 
in which the head was drawn very much too large, 
proportionally. 

Following this form would come, in order of logical 
development, such forms as the Egyptian hieroglyphics, 
in which pictures are used to represent syllables or 
letters, and not merely the objects which they outline. 
Whether or no these preceded the simple picture 
writing, historically, seems to be an open question. In 
any case, it is generally agreed that alphabetic writing 
is derived from hieroglyphics. Thus from the purely 
imitative comes the semi -conventional, and from the 
semi-conventional the purely conventional, or wholly 
arbitrary, system of signs. 



356 EDUCATION 

It is very instructive to notice that the progress which 
the actual history of the language suggests is on exactly 
similar lines to the best forms, and order, actually em- 
ployed by intelligent practical teachers to-day. Thus 
the language has, broadly, followed this order : from real 
objects to as full an imitation as possible — by gesture 
and sounds — then an outline imitation, next a more or 
less conventional sign, and, finally, entirely conventional 
signs. So the practical teacher says, first use the real 
object, if possible, in teaching, or use a model of it — as 
close an imitation as may be — if not a model, then a full 
or an outline picture, and, finally, talk about these in 
words. 

So we find, for example, that the following way of 
giving first lessons in reading is strongly, and rightly, 
favoured by good teachers. Let a model, and a picture, 
of a man be shown to the learner. Then ask him to 
name them. Draw an outline figure of a man on the 
black-board. The child will doubtless recognise, and 
name it. Then write the word man beside this picture 
on the black-board. Get the child to recognise either 
of the three symbols in any order, and to grasp the fact 
that the word is to do duty for the pictures in suggest- 
ing the idea of man to the mind. 

Next, clean the black-board, and ask the child to 
speak the name for man. Then write it again on the 
biack-board. An endeavour should be made to get the 
learner to tell that, previously, the teacher wrote, and he 
spoke, this sign as a name for the object man. Further 
exercises in associating the written sign and the idea 
ma]- easily be invented. Next let a real pan be shown 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 357 

— a niniature one, which should not be regarded as a 
model. The same process of obtaining the association 
of the word sign with the thing signified should be 
gone through ; but it ought to be possible to do it more 
quickly and briefly. 

Then little sentences can be made ; such as : This is 
a man ; here is a pan ; a man and a pan ; and so on. 
All that need be done with regard to the smaller words, 
at present, is to insist upon their correct association 
with the spoken words. Later on such sentences may 
be expanded by setting up various concrete relations 
between the model man and the miniature pan. Let 
the man be put in the pan, and then form such 
sentences as : The man is in the pan. Is the man in the 
pan ? Yes, the man is in the pan. Is the pan in the 
man ? No, the pan is not in the man. Of course a good 
deal of talk between the teacher and the pupil should 
lead up to, and involve, the construction of the 
sentences. And there is no reason why they should 
not be more or less amusing. 

The verb " can " should next be introduced, for the 
purpose of giving variety to the sentences, and also 
because it carries on the series of similar words : man, 
pan, can; thereby exercising visual discrimination as well 
as mental assimilation. And so a truly scientific system 
of word-building is realised, and can be carried on 
indefinitely. 

Let it be carefully observed that the above is here 
used as an illustration of the educational manner of 
acquiring language, and not an example of a first read- 
ing lesson, though it happens that the two coincide, for 



358 EDUCATION 

all reading lessons must be, to a greater or lesser extent, 
language lessons. It is to show the realisation of the 
evolutional progress from experience to expression, 
through ideas. This is the great truth for the educator 
to realise, that words have, and can have, no meaning 
except as our experiences and thought give us a content 
of meaning which we associate with them. It is not 
very likely to prove helpful, therefore, to give words to 
beginners unless we first give them the experiences and 
create, or arouse, in them the ideas which are to be 
associated with the verbal symbols. 

A practically simultaneous development of ideas and 
words should, as a rule, take place ; that is, they should 
keep pace with each other, or the community may 
incur loss with regard to the individual who has 
valuable ideas, but is unable to express them ; and it 
may also suffer much from the man who has many 
expressions and few ideas. 

In connection with this concurrent development of 
thought and language, in their relation to each other, 
there are two practical dangers to be avoided, viz., the 
giving too little or too much ideational content to 
words. The former is by far the most common fault, 
but the latter is hardly less mischievous, in many 
respects, when it occurs. 

Since words are an inseparable part of the knowledge 
of adults, it is too often taken for granted by them that 
those who can acquire the words have acquired the 
knowledge they represent. The absurdity of this is 
apparent when it is critically considered, but, unfor- 
tunately, it is just this consideration which is ordinarily 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 359 

omitted. A very little child would as readily learn 
texts of scripture in the original Hebrew or Greek, as 
in English. And a passage from the Eevelations would 
be equally unmeaning to it, in either language. 

In the beginnings of the use of language the learner 
should need a word before it is supplied. That is, there 
should be a content of experience, before a name is 
given to it. As Madame Necker points out : " When 
the want of a word has preceded the possession of it, 
the child can apply it naturally and justly." Later on 
the use of language will, by enabling the individual to 
more clearly analyse his ideas, also help him to render 
them clearer, and more easy to relate to others. 
Herein lies the true basis of what is called word- 
building. 

The acquisition of a large number of terms, expres- 
sions, verbal formulae, and the like, which express know- 
ledge, without the full and systematic acquiring of the 
perceptual and conceptual experiences which constitute 
it, we call "cram." We may define cram, therefore, 
as : the acquiring of the maximum of the verbal expres- 
sions of knowledge, with the minimum of intelligent 
content. 

Popular ideas about what is called cram are, as a 
rule, very vague and confused. If we accept the above 
definition, we shall not regard rapid learning as 
necessarily being cram. So long as the knowledge 
material is fully presented, received, and assimilated, 
true educational results will follow. Of course the 
more quickly this is attempted the more danger there 
is of the processes and products being incomplete, and. 



360 EDUCATION 

therefore, of using words as substitutes for ideas, i.e., 
cram. 

Again, to learn off certain lists of words is not 
necessarily cram. All proper names are, in themselves, 
nothing more than verbal labels, and, therefore, must 
be known as such. But, of course, they should 
always be intelligently and suggestively associated 
with things. Also there is a beauty of the verbal 
forms in which thoughts are expressed, as in poetry, 
and to learn the words, as such, for the sake of 
the form, is not cram. But, here, again, the proper 
associations must be secured, for form without matter 
is barren. 

The danger of overloading a word with ideas, although 
not a very common, is a very real one. Mr. Quick 
rightly points out that : " after all, though we may 
and should bring the young in connection with the 
objects of thought and not with words merely, we must 
not forget that the scholastic aspect of things will differ 
from the practical. When brought into the schoolroom 
the thing must be divested of details and surroundings, 
and used to give a conception of one of a class. The 
fir tree of the schoolboy cannot be the fir tree of the 
woodcutter." 

Jacotot's mistake largely consisted in trying to get too 
many ideas into too few words. We cannot know 
everything in one thing, and much less can we express 
it in one word, or sentence. As there are shades of 
difference of meanings in otherwise similar experiences, 
so we need slight differences of verbal signs which 
apply to the same kind of wholes. There are signifi- 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 361 

cant differences involved in describing a person as clever, 
talented, able, though they all imply a similar general 
capacity of mind. 

When a good foundation of related experience, know- 
ledge, and language, has been secured, then, as in other 
subjects, we may proceed by the method of regressive 
progress. Terms, and phrases, may be given, which 
have certain limitations imposed by their contexts, and 
the learner required to find the proper content of full 
meaning. A good example of this kind of work is 
seen in the interpretation of a particular passage in a 
chapter, play, or treatise, by other passages, and the 
general purpose and meaning of the whole. 

Only by carefully determining the function and 
powers of language with regard to such points, can we 
hope to make it as helpful an instrument of develop- 
ment as the nature of the case will allow. The 
primary educational purpose of language is to aid in 
developing power, not in storing up information. 
The latter comes later. 

By such combinations as were suggested in the dis- 
cussion of the principle of analysis and synthesis, the 
child's language should be made as fully expressive and 
self-interpretative as possible. They are the most ex- 
plicit form of verbal signs. Thus, if we take one indi- 
vidual from a group, we say that the group is then less 
one, that is, without one which was previously there. So 
we say a man is armless, senseless, homeless, and so on, 
when he is without arms, sense, or home. In this way 
word combinations can be given a practically real content 
of meaning, from the beginning, and many such combi- 



362 EDUCATION 

nations can be temporarily made use of to assist in the 
easier formation of exact ideas. 

Our language is very sadly unsystematic, and, there- 
fore, much less helpful than it might be, in many 
respects. Writers on logic have discussed this topic 
and have suggested certain rules for the formation of a 
more philosophical form of language, whilst scientists 
have actually carried out precise systems of word-build- 
ing, in framing the technical names for their sciences. 

Gesture language has by no means wholly dis- 
appeared. A Frenchman, for example, uses a good 
deal of delicate and refined gesture language, and even 
the phlegmatic Englishman indulges in his " nods and 
becks and wreathed smiles," as means of expressing his 
thoughts and feelings. Frowns, shrugs, manual threats, 
facial movements, and the like, are often economical, 
and very expressive, ways of indicating our ideas about 
things. It is, therefore, essentially educational that 
little children should, to a limited extent, be taught to 
express facts and feelings through gestures, as they do 
in kindergarten songs and games. What is possible in 
this direction is well shown by clever actors, who can 
bring tears and smiles from an audience, whilst con- 
fining themselves wholly to gesture language, or dumb- 
show as it is called. 

Ordinary thought symbols — that is, words in the 
sense in which we have been speaking of them, are 
often themselves symbolised, as in the use of such a form 
as H 2 0, which is equivalent to the phrase : a compound 
of hydrogen and oxygen, in the proportion of two parts 
of hydrogen to one of oxygen. Also the usual form of 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 363 

words in a sentence is often taken to imply many other 
sentences, as in the analogy : A man with a mind like 
an inflated balloon ; which may mean a mind which 
is full of airy nothings : is empty of solid sense : is 
light and frivolous : is very little under control : and 
so on. 

Now, such forms and uses of language are both 
necessary and helpful, because they are economical, and 
often specially vivid, unmistakable, and full, in meaning. 
As Dr. Karl Lange says : " We see how a striking figure, 
a fitting comparison, often transmits understanding of 
a point to the mind like lightning, and lends to con- 
cepts a distinctness that could not be reached without 
the help of concrete ideas." But they can, as a rule, 
only be really helpful to those who have great fami- 
liarity with, and command over, the use of language. 
They ought, therefore, to come late — at least, if used 
to any considerable amount — for educational purposes. 

No greater mistake in education can be made than 
to take it for granted that if vivid, attractive, and 
accurate verbal descriptions of things are given to 
learners, then there will inevitably, or even generally, 
be formed in them the ideas, feelings, and knowledge 
which are possessed by the speaker. If this were so, 
then the manufacture of phonographs might become 
the greatest educational agency of this century. But 
it is not so. Ideas can be put before the mind, but 
they cannot be put into the mind, except as the mind 
takes them in. "Words only express knowledge-giving 
experience ; they neither make it nor give it. 

More will be said about the principle of symbolism 



364 EDUCATION 

in the next chapter but one, after we have considered 
more fully the function of language in imparting know- 
ledge. 

Some General Remarks — There are connected with 
this chapter, as with the others, many points which 
it is not convenient to discuss at length, owing to the 
great increase of the size of the book which would 
result. For example, systems of mnemonics and of 
scientific nomenclature and terminology, might have 
been briefly discussed in connection with the principle 
of symbolism ; though the two last belong more 
properly to the treatment of education from the point 
of view of logic. But such points, and many others, 
may be regarded as problems to be worked out by the 
student himself. 

The inter-relation of the principles set forth in this 
chapter with those previously described should be care- 
fully considered. The connection between the principle 
of symbolism and that of pleasure has been suggested 
in reference to the beauty of verbal forms. A more 
ordinary instance of it is seen in the keen enjoyment 
which children show in listening to graphic and 
attractive verbal descriptions, well-told stories, and the 
like. 

Let us again quote the testimony of practical teachers 
in support of the principles just discussed. Plato, 
when speaking of the education of youths for citizen- 
ship, says: "And when they have made a good begin- 
ning in play, and by the help of music have gained the 
habit of good order, then this habit of order, in a 
manner how unlike the lawless play of others ! will 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 365 

accompany them in all their actions and be a principle 
of growth to them, and if there be any fallen places in 
the state will raise them up again. Thus educated, 
they will invent for themselves any lesser rules which 
their predecessors have altogether neglected." He 
thus clearly recognises inventiveness as the crown of 
educational development. 

Mr. H. G. Wells, in a lecture on science teaching, 
says : " Instruction in physics and chemistry should 
finally take the form of lessons in explanation of an 
experiment or group of related experiments, and 
exercises upon the lessons. The full importance of 
these experiments should be elucidated by questions. 
The pupils should draw the apparatus and describe 
the experiment orally, and should set down precisely 
what has been seen and what is to be inferred. They 
should also perform experimental work, involving 
measurements and computation, and farther illustrating 
the principles evolved, and should be called upon to 
imagine and describe the laws they had already become 
familiar with under new conditions." Herein is con- 
tained a clear and complete application of the principle 
of analysis and synthesis. 

Professor L. 0. Miall in an article on " Finding out 
and being told," says : " When the children have been 
cutting out paper, or putting sticks together, the 
teacher will not say : ' That side is too long or too short.' 
He will point out that there is something wrong, and 
encourage the child to discover what it is. When a 
model is to be drawn, he will not begin by prescribing 
the size of the drawing, but will inquire, together with 



366 EDUCATION 

the child, whether the first attempt is convenient in 
point of size." 

Again, the Hon. Rev. E. Lyttleton, in his contribution 
to " Thirteen Essays on Education," remarks, respecting 
the teaching of Latin syntax : " Surely it would not be 
impossible for boys to be given carefully graduated 
examples of certain constructions, and led to discover 
the rules exemplified, and to put them first into his 
own words, then, for convenience, into the technical 
phraseology." 

Of the need for a mental content being joined to all 
verbal forms, as the principle of symbolism requires, 
Mr. Quick speaks in very definite terms. He 
says : " Boys' minds are frequently dwarfed, and 
their interest in intellectual pursuits blighted, by 
the practice of employing the first years of their 
school-life in learning by heart things which it is 
quite impossible for them to understand or care for. 
Teachers set out by assuming that little boys cannot 
understand anything, and that all we can do with them 
is to keep them quiet and cram them with forms which 
will come in useful at a later stage. 

" When the boys have been taught on this system for 
two or three years, their teacher complains that they 
are stupid and inattentive, and that so long as they can 
say a thing by heart they never trouble themselves to 
understand it. In other words, the teacher grumbles 
at them for doing precisely what they have been taught 
to do, for repeating words without any thought of their 
meaning." 

Mr. Thring forcibly indicates the after effects of a 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 367 

non-observance of the principle in the following passage : 
" As long as the great majority of educated people do 
not know the precise meaning of their own language, 
when they use it, the confusion and muddle in public 
and private life must be as great as it is. A man who 
knows the real meaning of his own words will not use 
them ambiguously unless he is a knave ; and if he is 
a knave, an audience accustomed to study thought in its 
process of taking shape in words will detect his knavery. 
At present words have absurd power because they 
are swallowed whole." (Theory and Practice of 
Teaching.) 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE 

We have already said that knowledge consists of more 
or less organised judgments, or a store of truths known 
as truths. We now seek to make more explicit the 
nature and growth of knowledge. 

Sources of Knowledge. — Herbart says : " Knowledge 
imitates what lies before it in idea. ... In know- 
ledge there is an antithesis between the thing and the 
idea. . . . [Knowledge] is always at its beginning. 
Receptivity is as becoming in the man as in the boy. " 
Herein is implied the inner and outer elements of 
knowledge ; the subjective and objective elements, or 
the physical and mental, as they are often called. 
Also there is a definite recognition of the fact, which 
we have so often insisted upon, viz. , that the same prin- 
ciples of education, though in somewhat different pro- 
portions, are applicable to all individuals, whatever be 
the age of the learner. " Knowledge, in the wider 
sense, comprehends both cognition, which rests on 
perception (and on the evidence transmitting percep- 
tions of which we are ignorant), and also . . . [that] 
which is attained by thinking " (Ueberweg). This 



THE DEVELOPMENT OE KNOWLEDGE 369 

passage recognises the element of direct intuition as 
a source of knowledge, and also that of reflective 
thought. Both of these have been constantly referred 
to in previous discussions. 

Besides these two original sources of knowledge, 
there is what we may call a fundamental channel of 
knowledge arising out of the existence of language, 
viz., communication. This also has been already 
referred to. 

It may be said, therefore, that knowledge comes to 
us in three ways, viz., through intuition, reflection, and 
communication ; the ultimate basis of all three being 
experience. We will discuss each of these in some 
detail. 

1. Intuition. — ■ Much has already been said as to the 
nature of intuition. In referring to ■ the fundamental 
nature of the simplest forms of knowing, we have 
really dealt, in general terms, with the fact of in- 
tuition. We have said that a living mind is bound 
to react to stimuli which act upon it, in some definite 
and significant manner, because of its nature as mind. 
For example, the general meaning and value for the 
mind of each sensation, as to whether it is pleasurable 
or painful — i. e., agreeable or disagreeable — must be 
realised in the case of the very earliest sensations ; 
or there is no reason why the millionth should be so 
realised. 

Similarly we must know, in however vague and 
indefinite a way, the general value and significance of a 
great many other experiences, on the first occasion of 
their happening to us in definite form, or we shall never 

2 A 



370 EDUCATION 

know them. There can be no reference to and com- 
parison with, even in an implicit sense, the results of 
previous experiences, in the very beginning of life. 

It is these first cognitions which are included under 
intuition. Intuition may, therefore, be deiined as : the 
direct or immediate mental realisation of the essential 
value of an experience. By " direct or immediate " we 
mean without reference to previous experience or 
knowledge. Of course the word intuition is now used 
in its very widest sense, so as to apply to all kinds of 
experiences. The intuition of things — or of thingness, 
as it might be put — as dealt with in treating of percepts, 
is only one form of intuition. 

This original apprehension of the significance of an 
experience does not in the least include, or exclude, 
that fuller content of meaning which is given to the 
same kind of experience, when knowledge and thought 
have developed. We must be able to distinguish be- 
tween light and darkness at the first ; but light cannot, 
to begin with, mean what it will mean when we have a 
good knowledge of the science of optics. 

Since all our experiences are included under the 
mainly sensuous or the mainly rational kind, we may 
likewise divide intuitions into two classes, viz., sense 
intuitions and rational intuitions. As we have said, all 
the primary elements of knowledge of the physical 
details which are involved in a percept, and which are 
due to the sensations, as such, are immediate or direct, 
i. e., they are sense intuitions. Thus the eyes must 
enable the mind to judge at once whether an object is 
white or black ; the muscles of the hands must indicate 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE 371 

whether it be hard or soft ; the sense of touch must guide 
the mind as to whether it is rough or smooth ; and so 
on. All these are matters of sense intuition. 

" The sense-perceptions work together to assist us to 
a knowledge of the outer world, of which lights and 
colours, noises and musical sounds, smells and tastes, 
degrees of warmth, hardness, and roughness, are to be 
regarded as the elements. Our perceptions of the same 
external thing, gained through the different senses, 
come together in our consciousness into a whole, or 
total perception, of which the sight-perception takes 
its central place, hence the name intuition. 

" Thus, in the sense-perception (intuition) of common 
salt, for example, are included the whitish colour, the 
hexahedral form, the peculiar taste, the rough, hygros- 
copic feeling, and the peculiar crackling when pressed 
together." (Lindner, Empirical Psychology. ) 

All such intuitions necessarily involve a purely 
intellectual element — that of meaning or significance 
— but in so far as this is inseparably bound up with the 
total complex we may regard it as included in the term 
sense intuition. But there are cases in which it is 
as necessary for this element to act separately, in an 
intuitive manner. If the higher self-conscious, reflec- 
tive, mental life is to exist at all there must be a 
spontaneous beginning of it. 

We find that, as a matter of fact, such purely mental 
intuitions are made. The mind intuits, or directly 
cognises, the fact that it has existence, feelings, know- 
ings, willings, desires, ideas, and the like. Again, all 
axiomatic truths such as : the whole is greater than 



372 EDUCATION 

any one of its parts ; if equals be added to equals the 
wholes are equal ; and others, in their abstract forms, 
are direct and immediate rational judgments. The 
element of universal truth in them is grasped by a 
normal mind at the very first occasion on which the 
relation involved is definitely presented to it. 

If this were not so, it is impossible to see how such 
judgments could arise. An unlimited number of similar 
presentations — of course it is understood that the 
presentation, as such, is thoroughly complete and sound 
in every detail — can add nothing new in the way of 
explanation or suggestion. It is, as in the case of 
physical sight, necessary that w T e realise at once, when 
all the conditions, including the capacity to realise, are 
normal; or there is no possibility of our ever realising. 
Intuitions which have to do with the purely mental 
elements of experience are called rational intuitions. 

Care must be taken in forming a concept of intuition 
not to press the element of immediateness too far. It 
can never mean anything like absolute independence of 
the ordinary rational elements, for these are always 
finally inter-dependent and inter-related. The very 
fact of speaking of the direct grasp of "the meaning 
and value of an experience " shows that this inter-rela- 
tion is implicitly involved. Perhaps the best way of 
expressing the difference between an intuition and 
other units of knowledge, is to say that in an intuition 
the implicitness is, from the practical point of view, 
absolute, in the first instance. 

All physical wholes, as wholes, are directly known 
through intuition, as are also all parts as separate 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE 373 

units, or smaller wholes, in so far as knowledge of 
them comes through direct experience, i.e., as percepts. 
Images and concepts of physical wholes may be formed 
through the constructive powers of thought alone. 

Accepting intuitions in this sense, it is clear that 
they are the foundation elements of all knowledge. It 
is from them, and in relation to them, that all other 
details of knowledge have their significance and value. 
All the highest rational products must be based upon, 
and conform with, these fundamental elements, in the 
same way that the most profound and complex 
geometrical theorem is, in the last analysis, founded 
upon and in accord with the simplest geometrical 
axioms. 

Of the truth of intuitions we can offer no further 
justification than that they always impress themselves 
upon us with the same inevitable and unvarying 
significance ; and that when we accurately relate other 
experiences and judgments to them, we find that all 
actions based upon such are in harmony with the 
general order of nature, so far as we are able to appre- 
hend by the resulting effects upon ourselves and other 
objects. They, therefore, are to us the fundamental, or 
ultimate, elements of knowledge, beyond which we 
cannot go, and without which we should be unable to 
relate our experiences so as to form any systems of 
knowledge. 

"The sum of our perceptions [intuitions] forms the 
circle of our sense experience, and at the same time the 
material which conditions all the higher activities of 
the soul. The greatest extension of this circle is seen 



374 EDUCATION 

in the first years of life, and in the following periods of 
childhood and youth, and it also experiences constant 
extension during middle life" (Lindner). 

2. Reflection. — Of the ways in which knowledge conies 
to us by reflection, we have been treating throughout 
all our discussions hitherto. The knowledge which 
comes to us through simple assimilation and discrimina- 
tion, association, relation, and reason, in connection 
with all and every kind and item of experience, is 
reflection-given. All that comes to us immediately, 
or through the implicit or explicit mental connection 
of one thing with another is included under this 
head. 

3. Communication. —Very limited indeed would be 
the total amount of knowledge that any one person 
could acquire in a lifetime, if he had only his own 
experiences to depend upon ; and infinitely more 
restricted, comparatively speaking, would be that of the 
race, were it not for the almost boundless supplies of 
knowledge-giving information which can be communi- 
cated through written and spoken language. 

As we have seen, a large part of the meaning which 
mind gets from a presentation is due to the representa- 
tive elements which interpret and apperceive it. These 
representative elements must necessarily act through 
their associated symbols, for it would be manifestly 
impossible to have all the details of all the representa- 
tions in clear consciousness, together with the details of 
the presentation, and also to carry on the necessary 
mental processes. 

In the same way as mind thus works with the 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE 375 

symbols for its own mental units, so also it can make 
use of the symbols with which others supply it, so long 
as it has more or less of the appropriate contents of 
meanings which must be given to the signs. The 
modifications and adaptations of one's own knowledge, 
as gained from experience, can be made effective 
through judgment, in accordance with the suggestions 
or demands of that which is communicated. On this 
point we have already had a good deal to say. 

There are, however, certain conditions and precautions 
which should always be insisted upon either by, or on 
behalf of, the learner, before accepting the description 
of the nature, effects, and meanings of the experiences 
of others, for the same purposes, and in the same 
sense, as they themselves receive and make use of the 
symbols which represent their own experiences and 
knowledge. Of course we assume that, as a rule, 
individuals secure sound knowledge, and, therefore, 
that it is only the symbols of correct ideas that they 
use in obtaining further knowledge. One must make 
certain that he has every reasonable guarantee that the 
symbols which he gets from others are quite trust- 
worthy. 

Probably the most important points to insist upon 
are the following. Firstly, there must be no rational 
contradictions, or contradictions between parts, in any 
series or systems of facts and ideas conmunicated 
through language. It may seem that the first condition 
is a little far-fetched in character. But when it is 
remembered how many systems of so-called religion, 
science, philosophy, and medicine, are based upon pre- 



376 EDUCATION 

tensions of having solved mysteries, made the complex 
absolutely simple, apprehended the inexpressible, or 
discovered universal and infallible remedies, it will be 
recognised that the condition is not superfluous. 

The latter part of the requirement is not necessarily 
a vital one, for a sound theory may be incompletely 
apprehended as to some of its details. At the same 
time, however, we must beware of hastily accepting 
every detail of constitution or application of what we 
have every reason to believe to be sound as a whole. 
And it may be that some essential parts of a whole 
hopelessly conflict with each other. Such a contradic- 
tion is fatal. 

Secondly, we must assure ourselves that there are 
no contradictions of generally accepted principles, 
unless the assertions which involve them are conclusively 
proved, and the orthodox views convincingly disproved. 
When such an issue is involved there should be what 
the logician calls an " experimentum crucis," or test 
case. Such an experiment must be devised as will at 
once show that one theory is true and the other false. 

Dr. Fowler gives the following example of a crucial 
experiment in his " Inductive Logic." " It has been 
determined, from theoretical considerations, that, on 
the assumption of the undulatory theory, the velocity 
of light must be less in the more highly refracting 
medium, while, according to the emission theory, it 
ought to be greater. When M. Foucault had invented 
his apparatus for determining the velocity of light, it 
became possible to submit the question to direct ex- 
periment; and it was established by M. Fizeau that 



THE DEVELOPMENT OE KNOWLEDGE 377 

the velocity of light is less in water (the more highly 
refracting medium) than in air, in the inverse propor- 
tion of the refractive indices. The result is, therefore, 
decisive in favour of the undulatory, or at least, 
against the emission theory." 

Thirdly, we should be convinced, on completely satis- 
factory grounds, that the communicator is thoroughly 
reliable as to his statement of facts, and as to the 
soundness of the more direct inferences which he 
draws from them. This is a matter which is by no 
means involved in the former conditions. A person 
may put on record a most plausible account of obser- 
vations, and deductions from them, which he himself 
most sincerely and conscientiously believes, but which 
are nevertheless seriously misleading, or radically un- 
sound. 

It often requires a very wise and skilful person to 
see what he sees, in a scientific sense. We all have 
eyes that see not, and ears that hear not, with regard 
to certain elements of experience. If medical men 
were to trust wholly to what their patients, or relatives, 
could tell them of the symptoms and effects of their 
disorders, the results would be likely to be disastrous 
to the sick ones. Again, it requires a psychologist, and 
an unprejudiced one, to rightly observe the signs and 
stages of mental development in children. 

Hence, we ought to regard the proper qualifications 
of the communicator as one of the essential guaran- 
tees of the trustworthiness of the communication. A 
commonplace example of the necessity of such a safe- 
guard is afforded by the way in which witnesses of 



378 EDUCATION 

alleged furious driving estimate the rate of travelling 
at all sorts of degrees, varying from five to twenty 
miles an hour. 

Fourthly, we should be reasonably certain that we 
are rightly interpreting, at least approximately, the 
symbols used. What has been said about the am- 
biguity of terms applies equally to phrases, sentences, 
and even trains of reasoning. An amusing example 
of an ambiguous sentence is the invitation, said to 
have been given by a travelling Irishman to an 
acquaintance : " If ever you are within a mile of my 
house, I hope you will stay there the night." The 
ambiguity of arguments is shown by a case in which 
one might say : which proves that A stole the cheque, 
or that B told lies. 

"Where, therefore, there is no explicit statement of 
a communicator's purposes or views, and the context 
does not obviously and conclusively demand and allow 
of one, and only one, interpretation, then the learner 
should definitely recognise that he is in the region of 
conjecture, uncertainty, and, it may be, intellectual 
danger. Under such conditions there can be no 
definite communication of final knowledge-giving in- 
formation, as to conclusions on any special points at 
issue. 

The history of schools of thought, controversies, 
schisms, factions, parties, persecutions, and the like, 
all show how much turns upon a determination to fill 
in, rather than accept only that which is obviously 
given out by, verbal forms. The world of knowledge 
is full of the evidence of foolish perversity in this 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE 379 

matter, as witness the volumes of various interpreta- 
tions of great, writers. How often might weary readers 
exclaim in righteous wrath : " One might understand 
this passage, if it were not for the commentators ! " 

When the above conditions are reasonably satisfied, 
there is hardly any more likelihood of rational error 
arising from mentally working with the symbols of 
other people's thoughts arid experiences, than with 
those of one's own. 

Of course the above remarks only apply, in their 
fullest sense, to advanced youths and adults ; but 
exactly the same matters, as to principle, occasionally 
occur in connection with the verbal element in the 
education of young children. These should be dealt 
with, in a very simple manner, as far as possible on the 
lines suggested. 

To take a simple illustration, let us suppose that a 
child is reading about a small boy's first ride in a rail- 
way carriage, and comes to the sentence, " Oh, mother, 
do look at the houses all running by ! " Without let- 
ting the little reader go on to the correction which will 
doubtless be found in the following lines, the educator 
can make this an opportunity for asking such ques- 
tions as : Have you ever seen houses run ? Do you 
think they can run ? Why not ? Thus the element 
of inaccuracy in the judgment is made obvious, for the 
words express something which is opposed to known 
truths. 

Then the unfitness of the observer for giving a sound 
and accurate judgment about what was happening 
might be brought out, by such questions as, " Do little 



380 EDUCATION 

boys know very much ? Do they understand all that 
happens around them (as, how the engine can draw 
the carriages) ? Do older people sometimes make mis- 
takes ? Does it look as though the houses moved ? 
What does move ? 

Stages of Development in Knowledge — That know- 
ledge does not come to us in an absolutely clear, full, 
and final form in the first instance, none would be 
likely to dispute. Even intuitions, though they can 
never be said to alter their essential characters, become 
more clear and definite after repeated experiences. It 
is this progress in clearness, definiteness, and fulness, 
of ideas with which we are concerned in tracing the 
stages in the development of knowledge ; for as ideas 
become more precise in form, and more rich in content, 
so also will judgments, reasonings, and the whole of 
organised knowledge. 

Dr. Lindner says: "Not clearness, therefore, but 
obscurity is the original form of consciousness, as is the 
case with the new born child, the majority of animals, 
and with the adult in the condition of sleep." So also 
Dr. ■Hoffding remarks : " Distinctness and individuality 
are relative conceptions, and our ideas may in this respect 
pass through a whole scale. The ideas of children and 
of primitive men have often a certain abstract, vague, 
and general character, because they do not distinctly 
apprehend and hold fast the individual shades and 
differences. At the first, only particular sides of the 
object are apprehended and preserved." 

The same fact is insisted upon by Dr. Ward, who 
indicates the character of infantile presentations thus : 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE 381 

" In place of the many things which we can now see 
and hear, not merely would there then be a confused 
presentation of the whole field of vision and of a mass 
of undistinguished sounds, but even the difference 
between sights and sounds themselves would be without 
its present distinctness." 

An infant, or any person suddenly called upon to 
deal with what we should ordinarily call utterly un- 
known experiences, may be described as looking out upon 
the vague and vast unknown ; except that there would 
be the recognition, with what we have termed absolute 
implicitness by the infant, but with more or less 
explicitness by an adult, of a something which it may 
be possible to know. 

The first necessity for knowledge in such a case is to 
be able to make out some element .of difference in the 
general presentation. This will probably consist of sug- 
gestions of limits or boundaries, of some kind or other. 
These will then gradually become more and more clear 
and definite until the whole is more or less completely 
marked off into areas. The content and significance of 
these areas will doubtless remain as vague as ever for 
some considerable time. But a beginning has been 
made. This may be regarded as the first stage in the 
development of knowledge. 

"When so much has been accomplished, the marking 
off of concrete differences, more or less superficial, is 
likely to go on to a very considerable extent. In this 
way each of the areas, or smaller wholes, into which the 
original presentation was divided, will themselves be 
known as consisting of distinguishable details or parts. 



382 EDUCATION 

Also the knowledge of these parts will become clearer 
and more definite through repeated experiences. To 
again quote Dr. Ward : " Because things are so often a 
world within themselves, their several parts or members 
not only having distinguishing qualities but moving and 
changing with more or less independence of the rest, it 
comes about that what is from one point of view one 
thing becomes from another point of view several, like 
a tree with its separable branches and fruits, for 
example." Such a marking off of the first recognised 
wholes into their smaller wholes or constituent parts, is 
the second stage of knowledge. 

There then remains, in general terms, only the know- 
ledge of the relations, qualities, laws, and principles, 
which are involved the great total, the constituent 
wholes, and their details, to be acquired. To know these 
exhaustively it will be necessary to have a complete 
knowledge of the minutest details of each of the parts. 
Herein lies the third stage of knowledge, which is 
obviously a very wide, and practically unlimited, region. 

Leibnitz has called these three stages of knowledge 
the clear, the distinct, and the adequate. Knowledge 
is clear when we are able to mark off wholes from each 
other, in the first division of the total presentation. It 
is distinct when we know each separate and distinct 
part of a whole. To know in these stages means to 
have such clear and definite percepts that we can, as a 
rule, without hesitation or mistake, recognise or identify 
a whole, or part, as such-and-such. Knowledge is 
adequate when, if ever, we know all about all the parts 
of a whole. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE 383 

These stages may be illustrated by the following 
example. We have clear knowledge of an oak tree 
when we are able to clearly mark it off from anything 
that is not a tree, and also from other trees, so that we 
are almost invariably right, under ordinary conditions, 
when we say : this is an oak tree. When we can, in 
a similar manner, distinguish between the trunk, 
branches, roots, leaves, blossoms, seeds, and all the 
essential botanical parts of a tree, we have distinct 
knowledge of the tree. If we are able to attain to a 
knowledge of every constituent element and of every 
principle concerning the nature, development, and life 
of the tree, and its direct relations to other wholes, we 
might approximate to an adequate knowledge of it, as a 
whole. 

The way in which knowledge gradually grows in the 
mind has been very aptly compared to experiences on a 
foggy morning. A person walking along and looking 
straight ahead sees nothing but a boundless misty 
vagueness before him. Presently there looms before 
him a kind of intensified and limited vagueness, making 
in the general vagueness a suggestion of a something 
definite within, or behind it. Further progress makes 
the suggestiveness more definite, and it may be that a 
guess is hazarded as to its being some animal, a man, or 
a house. Soon after there is no longer any doubt as 
between these, for the outline has become so definite 
that it is clearly that of a house. This is the point 
when knowledge is clear. 

As he gets nearer to the house he sees that it is a 
cottage built of bricks, with a thatched roof, and foui 



384 EDUCATION 

windows at the front. Next he comes tip to the build- 
ing and sees all the external details. If we suppose 
him to enter the house, go into each room, and care- 
fully take account of every concrete detail, he could 
thus gain a distinct knowledge of it. 

Now the fog may be assumed to have disappeared, 
and the full sunlight to be shining upon the house and 
its surroundings. There is no further obstacle to a 
complete knowledge of all the concrete constituents of 
the object. Not all at once, however, are all the 
details seen and known. Much practical effort and 
concrete analysis must be gone through before com- 
pletely distinct knowledge is gained. 

From this point there is only the purely rational 
obscurity which has to be explored. The progress in 
this is very similar to the previous advance. Of course 
at the present time, when the opportunities for getting 
knowledge are so numerous, and aids so plentiful and 
efficient, it is not easy to realise, so fully and in such 
detail, all the mental difficulties. But if we consider 
how the race has advanced through what we should 
call the absurdest superstitions about material things 
to exact scientific knowledge of them, we shall under- 
stand more of what is actually involved in rational 
progress. 

If, then, the traveller pursues his inquiries until he 
understands all about all the details of the house, in 
the light of all that each of the physical sciences has to 
tell or suggest about them, then he is in the way of 
obtaining adequate knowledge about the object as a 
whole. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OP KNOWLEDGE 385 

A few words of detail about each of the stages may 
help to make matters still clearer. 

i. Clear Knowledge — Doubtless it will have been 
noticed that clear knowledge involves the intuition of 
a thing as a distinct whole. This wholeness is the 
first element of what we have called thingness. There 
is no suggestion of parts or contents involved in it, 
much less any apprehension, however vague, of them. 
Hence, clear knowledge may be said to include all 
primary intuitions, and percepts, of things. Bat the 
complex and immediate percept, known as such, is 
wholly excluded. 

Knowledge which falls short of the definiteness and 
accuracy required for clear knowledge, in the sense 
that one is frequently, say, mistaking an oak tree for 
an elm tree, and otherwise confusing wholes with one 
another, is said to be obscure. 

Liebnitz says : " A notion is obscure when it is 
not sufficient to enable us to recognise the thing which 
it represents ; when, for example, I remember some 
flower or animal which I have formerly seen, but this 
remembrance is not sufficient to enable me to recognise 
its image, or to discriminate it from others which re- 
semble it. When, again, I think of some term .... 
which has never been sufficiently explained, such for 
example as the .... term cause .... the proposi- 
tion is obscure into which such a notion enters." (A. S. 
Baynes' translation.) 

The element of indefiniteness in ordinary thought is 
well pointed out by Dr. Isambard Owen, in the follow- 
ing passage : " Or take the evidence of language (it is 

2b 



386 EDUCATION 

a practical point), and mark how vagueness of arith- 
metic conception [perception] reflects and even ex- 
aggerates itself in vagueness of arithmetic diction. 
Our grammars contain an ample list of numerals ; the 
State supplies a set of standard measures ; but in speech 
and writing, even the most careful, numerals and terms 
of measurement have to give place to a host of words, 
such as 'many,' 'few,' 'large,' 'small,' 'often,' 'seldom,' 
to which it is difficult to attach any definite meaning. 
We are fain, however, to use them, not precisely 
because our conceptions [perceptions] are equally 
vague, but because they are still not definite enough to 
find arithmetical expression." 

Although it is not usual to re-apply the names clear, 
distinct, and adequate, to stages of development in 
what is termed purely rational knowledge, yet there 
would seem to be much to recommend such a course. 
Those who have studied the pure sciences, and, more es- 
pecially those who have studied the mental sciences, will 
know that there is the same kind of development in the 
power to clearly apprehend the purely rational. We shall, 
therefore, briefly point out how the terms do so apply. 

In the realm of what is known as pure reason, clear 
knowledge will embrace all rational intuitions, and 
simple primary forms of conceptual judgment. Tlu 
accurate marking off of presentations from percepts, 
percepts from concepts, pleasures from pains, desires 
from willings, feeling from knowing, and the like, will 
be included under clear knowledge. All knowledge 
which fails to rightly and habitually mark these off 
from each other will be obscure. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE 387 

It is interesting to notipe how the individual is con- 
stantly repeating this cycle of progress in knowledge, 
throughout his life. If a man who had lived in a city 
all his life, and knew next to nothing of practical 
affairs beyond the limits of a business office, were 
required to distinguish one dog from another in a pack 
of hounds, he would, probably, very keenly realise the 
fact that he had eyes which had not yet learnt to see 
in this particular sphere. 

Much in the same way men who have had a long- 
training in practical affairs, or even in the physical 
sciences, are at first wholly at a loss in attempting the 
mental sciences ; and are very apt to consider such 
subjects as little better than elaborate verbal frauds. 
Their mental eyes are not yet opened to mental 
objects. But none such need despair, for they have 
eyes which may be opened. 

2. Distinct Knowledge — This corresponds to and 
includes all complex percepts. There will be, so far as 
the concrete is concerned, no concept element, known 
as different from the percept, in it. It is simply the 
application of the conditions of clear knowledge to each 
and every distinct part of a concrete whole. 

If there be so much indefiniteness or incompleteness 
in such knowledge that one part is more or less fre- 
quently taken for another, then the knowledge is, from 
this point of view, said to be confused. 

"With regard to the application of the term in the 
sphere of the purely rational, our knowledge will be 
distinct when we can distinguish definitely between the 
constituent elements in a complete concept, e.g., the 



388 EDUCATION 

concepts of animality and rationality as composing the 
concept of humanity. '"When there is failure in this 
respect the knowledge is confused. 

As Dr. Sully says : "A boy has a distinct idea of 
coal when he clearly distinguishes and grasps together 
as a whole its several qualities, as its black colour, its 
frangibility, combustibility, &c. On the other hand, 
an idea is indistinct, hazy, or ill-defined, when the con- 
stituent qualities of the objects are not thus distinctly 

represented A concept is indistinct when it is 

apt to be confused with a kindred concept. Thus a 
boy studying history has confused notions when he does 
not discriminate an aggressive from a defensive war, a 
limited from an absolute monarchy, and so forth." 

One can hardly help beiug struck with the tremendous 
difficulty, often amounting to practical impossibility, of 
really knowing every distinct part of some very complex 
wholes. And this becomes more and more true as 
knowledge advances, for definite differences of structure, 
nature, and function of details, which were previously 
thought to be non-distinctive parts of a part, are being 
constantly discovered. Anatomy and chemistry give 
good examples of this. 

It, therefore, becomes a question as to how far know- 
ledge must go before it can be said to be really distinct. 
For practical purposes it is sufficient to have a know- 
ledge of the more important and obviously distinguish- 
able, parts. But it is, perhaps, well to take an ideal 
standard of knowledge, and to admit that there are 
comparatively few things, if any, of which we can really 
have exhaustively distinct knowledge. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE 389 

Liebnitz thus distinguishes between confused and 
distinct knowledge : " It is confused when we are not 
able to enumerate marks sufficient to discriminate the 
thing from others, although it may, in reality, have such 
marks and requisites into which its notion may be 
resolved. Thus. . . . painters and other artists discern 
well enough what is well or ill done ; but often are not 
able to give a reason for their judgment, and reply to 
those who inquire what it is that displeases them in the 
work, that there is something, they know not what, 
wanting. 

" But a distinct notion is such as the assayers have 
concerning gold, by marks and tests which are sufficient 
to distinguish it from all other similar bodies. ... A 
distinct knowledge of an indefinable notion is ... . 
possible when it is primitive or self-evident — that is, 
when it is ultimate." In other words, intuitions are 
included in distinct notions. 

3. Adequate Knowledge. — From what has already been 
said it will have been gathered that adequate knowledge 
must mean perfectly exhaustive and correct knowledge 
about an object. Strictly understood, it implies that 
condition of knowledge in which it is clearly seen that 
all is in all, as Jacotot says. But this is omniscience. 

In this strict sense we cannot be said to have ade- 
quate knowledge of any one thing, for to do so we must 
know everything about everything. For example, can 
we claim to know everything about our own alphabet ? 
We can certainly have a completely distinct knowledge 
of it, for it is easily analysed into its geometrical 
elements of outline. But when we go beyond this we 



390 EDUCATION 

have to regard it as a system of thought-symbol 
elements. This brings us to a consideration of the 
functions and principles of language, and at once we are 
in a boundless region of fact and philosophy. 

Adequate knowledge may, indeed, be regarded as 
wholly impossible for us. We can only hope to more and 
more approximate to it as our knowledge and powers in- 
crease. Leibnitz said that adequate knowledge is intui- 
tive and perfect. For all knowledge to be intuitive would 
mean that there would be no knowledge in our present 
sense of the term. An omniscient individual does not 
learn, relate, compare, and so on ; he simply cognises in an 
absolutely immediate and complete sense. He cannot 
be said to analyse or synthesise, for everything must 
come to him already analysed and synthesised, as 
universal and perfect intuition. 

Both the concrete and the purely rational elements 
of knowledge are included in adequate knowledge. 
There is, therefore, no need to speak of the latter 
separately. All knowledge that falls short of being 
adequate is described as inadequate, or imperfect. 

We may illustrate the application of the stages of 
knowledge, in the case of a judgment, by the following. 
The judgment " all dogs are quadrupeds " is clear, in a 
perceptual sense, when the concrete ideas of dog and 
quadruped, and the significance of including both in 
the same group, are clear. It is clear, in a conceptual 
sense, when the concepts of dog and quadruped, and 
the significance of the relation between them, are clear. 
The judgment is distinct when all the elements of the 
percepts, or of the concepts, are distinct. It will 



THE DEVELOPMENT OE KNOWLEDGE 391 

approximate to the adequate, when more or less of all 
the perceptual and conceptual elements of fact, signi- 
fication, implication, and universal inter-relation and 
dependence, are known. We must know the concrete 
and rational details involved in the arriving at the 
judgment inductively, aud their deductive implications. 

Of adequate knowledge Liebnitz says : " When every- 
thing which enters into a distinct notion is distinctly 
known, or when the last analysis is known, the know- 
ledge is adequate, of which I scarcely know whether 
a perfect example can be offered ; the knowledge of 
numbers, however, approaches near to it." 

So does the greatest of all human possessions come to 
man. There are the first frightened peeps into 
the great unknown : then the timid gaze : the shy 
reaching forth of the hand : the hesitating grasping of 
things : and the doubting appropriation of the facts of 
life and thought. Then follow : the earnest strivings 
to know truly : the realisation of the infinity of know- 
ledge : the thrilling and sometimes lasting joys of 
conquest : and the strength of the humility of knowing 
one's ignorance. 



CHAPTEE IX 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION — (continued) 

Again we have to deal with the general " principle 
of development " in education, from the point of view 
of greater detail with regard to a particular aspect of 
it. It will be well to remind ourselves that when we 
speak of the educational principle of development, 
we mean the manner in which the educator should 
use certain kinds of educative influences so as to 
bring about the greatest possible harmony and co- 
operation between the developing mind and the 
educating processes. 

The Principle of Development. - — Whereas we were 
treating of the elements of knowledge, and the educa- 
tional principles connected therewith, under the title 
of the development of ideas, we have now to speak of 
the educational principles derived from a considera- 
tion of the nature and development of what we may call 
the units of knowledge. A unit of knowledge may be 
said to be the apprehension, however vague and super- 
ficial at first, of any whole of experience. Obviously 
this will take us to sensations as the first units of 
knowledge ; after which will follow the realisation of 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 393 

physical wholes, when the sense organs begin to do 
their work more definitely. 

1. From the Concrete to the Abstract. — It will be seen 
that further light is thrown upon this maxim, by what 
has been said about the development of knowledge 
from the clear to the distinct, and then to the ade- 
quate. But it is not necessary to do more than draw 
attention to the fact that we thereby learn that there 
is a progress in the clearness, as well as the fulness, of 
ideas. We must not expect that first ideas will, ordin- 
arily, be quite clear and definite, any more than that 
they will be full and accurate. 

2. From the Known to the Unknown. — We now see 
that what is first known is very imperfectly known to 
begin with, and that we have to proceed from a very 
vague, indefinite, and incomplete knowledge of a thing, 
to a more clear, distinct, and approximately adequate 
knowledge of it. Also we find that large unknown 
wholes are first divided into smaller unknown wholes, 
at least in many cases ; and, although the large whole 
is the better known in that we have still further 
analysed it, yet the new units will probably be almost, 
if not quite, as unknown as the inclusive unit was at 
first. 

Thus we have what we may call the reciprocal 
truth of the converse of this maxim. That is to say, 
whilst it is true that we are proceeding from what we 
first know to what at first was not known, we are 
also advancing from a slight knowledge of a whole to 
a much fuller mastery of it. From the latter point of 
view we are progressing from the less known to the 



394 EDUCATION 

more known, with respect to the same inclusive unit 
of experience and knowledge. This truth must be 
recognised and remembered by the educator, or he will 
be likely to take wrong attitudes towards the maxim. 

Let it be carefully noted that both points of view 
apply to the same unit of knowledge. For example, 
when an individual learns about levers, he should first 
be called upon to tell how he has gained help in mov- 
ing and lifting heavy bodies from simple mechanical 
aids, or has seen others do so. A boy may have 
noticed the large and heavy piles of luggage which a 
porter is able to raise and move by means of his 
specially-constructed barrow. He will also know how 
very greatly a claw-hammer helps in drawing out a nail 
from a piece of wood, and a poker in loosening the fire. 
These items of general, and more or less superficial, 
knowledge are brought together to prepare for, and 
assist in, the discovery of more exact practical know- 
ledge about levers. He is, therefore, proceeding from 
the more known to the more or less unknown. 

But, on the other hand, in so far as his previous 
knowledge was really knowledge about levers which 
it is now proposed to extend and make more exact, he 
is progressing from the less known to the more known, 
in his knowledge of levers. This is, after all, only two 
ways of stating the same truth, but the putting of the 
point explicitly may prevent possible confusion. 

The gradual development of knowledge, from the 
latter point of view, also deserves attention. There 
is first the progress from one thing that is slightly 
known to another which is also slightly known ; then 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 395 

there is the advance from slight knowledge to a fuller 
knowledge of the same inclusive, or separate, unit of 
knowledge ; and, finally, we have the growth from a 
comparatively fuller knowledge of a thing to a more 
and more full, scientific, and profound knowledge of 
it. These stages move consecutively with regard to 
the same unit of knowledge, but concurrently as to 
different units. 

Having regard to any fresh step in knowledge, 
simply as a fresh step, then the statement of the 
maxim : from the more known to the less known, 
must be held to have an invariable and universal 
application. In other words, we must always provide 
for interpreting the presentative by the representative : 
for understanding the new by means of the old : and 
for growing out of what we are into that which we are 
becoming. 

3. From the Simple to the Complex. — Again we get 
further, and valuable, knowledge of the significance of 
this maxim. We have previously described the simple, 
for educational purposes, as that which is well known, 
familiar, and under such control that it can, as a rule, 
be readily and accurately applied either in theory or 
practice. But it is necessary that we should have 
some idea as to what are to be regarded as the first 
forms of the simple, in the development of knowledge 
in the individual. It is most important that we should 
know this, because such things will constitute the best, 
and the only really trustworthy, points of departure 
for imparting knowledge. 

There can hardly be any question as to the truth of 



396 EDUCATION 

the fact that every first unit of knowledge must come 
from within the limits of the individual's own experi- 
ence. What we want to know, therefore, is : what are 
the first ideas which the individual is likely to derive 
from his experiences of his surroundings, with regard 
to any given knowledge-subject which the educator 
usually employs. 

Fortunately there is very general agreement as to 
what are the first units of knowledge in some subjects, 
and these will at least form a basis for obtaining some 
support from practical thought for what we shall urge 
as the truly scientific view. Thus in geography most 
educationists would agree that the proper matter to start 
with is the child's knowledge of his own surroundings, 
and that this should, be so organised as to lead on to 
all the ordinary forms of geographical knowledge. 

Again, the view that grammar should begin with the 
sentence, because it is, either in a full or elliptical form, 
the first unit of language knowledge which the child 
acquires, is usually accepted as the right one. That 
writing should be introduced by drawing, and that 
formal and symbolic reckoning (arithmetic) ought to be 
preceded by concrete grouping and mental exercises, 
are generally recognised educational truths. 

Now the scientific justification for such views is the 
fact that in each case the foundations of the educational 
exercises are laid within the sphere of the child's own 
actual experience and present knowledge ; though the 
latter is more or less implicit, in so far as the formal 
organisation of it is concerned. This point must be 
emphatically insisted upon, and constantly borne in 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 397 

mind. It is the whole within the beginner's knowledge 
and experience which must be made use of, and not a 
more perfect and comprehensive one which is quite 
familiar and easy to the ordinary adult, or to the 
educator. 

Much less should it be a whole which represents, not 
the primal, but the present knowledge possession of the 
race. And yet many have advocated this last named 
whole, and some even still use it. Geography was 
formerly, and in some cases is still, begun with an out- 
line account of the geography of the world. To begin 
with the whole of one's native land is equally bad, for 
it is quite as much an unknown world to the child. 

The teaching of history, strangely enough, is still in 
the stage of practical blundering, except in the case of a 
few scientific thinkers, notwithstanding the recognition 
of its intimate connection with geography. It is thought 
that beginning with vivid biographical accounts of 
some of the most striking or important personages of 
former times is a sufficient simplification of the subject 
matter ; whilst a good many hold that a short outline 
sketch of a brief period of the earliest history of the 
fatherland, with plenty of illustrations, will do all that 
is required. Others, again, still hold to the "good old 
way, the ancient plan " of beginning with the creation 
of the world, and working down through a very brief 
sketch of all the history of all the nations. 

But surely history should begin, like geography, 
with the knowledge of the home life. If the child 
realises anything at all, it must know something about 
the changes connected with its own life. The change 



398 EDUCATION 

from the home life to the school life, from the school 
for younger to that for older scholars, from a day 
school to a boarding school: the significant change 
from the dress of childhood to that of youth : the 
difference between the dress of a grandmother and 
grandfather and that of a grown-up sister and brother : 
the comparison of the organisation and government of 
the home with those of the school : old houses, and 
local customs, institutions, and traditions : the disused 
canal beside the busy railway : and the like, all form 
starting points for biographical, social, local, political, 
commercial, and national history. 

Beading is another subject which is not yet generally, 
or completely, delivered from the bondage of educa- 
tional ignorance. A more widespread recognition of 
the fact that the combined aural and visual whole 
should, as in the case of the vocal and aural whole, 
be a sentence is required. This does not exclude the 
giving of single words as a preliminary to short 
sentences; for such a proceeding is quite in accord 
with the development of language. The first efforts in 
language consist of single word sentences, that is, 
exclamations. To exclaim "Man!" and to point with 
the finger, is a combination of vocal and gesture lan- 
guage, and has some such meaning as : that is a man ; 
here is a man ; or, I see a man there. 

We have discussed this point is some detail, because 
we are of opinion that much hindrance arises, and 
great mischief is often caused, in relation to the earliest 
stage of education, owing to misconceptions about it, 
or the want of a clear and definite realisation of the 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 399 

truth. It is of the greatest moment that we should 
understand, and endeavour always to realise in practice, 
those words of Pestalozzi : " The circle of knowledge 
commences close round a man, and from thence 
stretches out concentrically." 

Such are the conditions which will provide the order 
of greatest simplicity. And this will be still more 
effectively secured if careful consideration be given to 
the gradual progress from clear to distinct, and from 
distinct to adequate, ideas, in each separate item of 
knowledge. At first a brief outline of the whole 
should be considered, until its general nature and 
significance, from the practical standpoint, are made 
reasonably clear and permanent. Then may come the 
fuller and fuller detail, until all the important parts of 
the whole are also made clear, and so the idea of the 
whole becomes distinct. Later on still higher and 
deeper knowledge of the powers, relations, and laws of 
the matter should be attempted. 

This maxim, like all the others, should be understood 
in its detailed meaning. It should be stated thus: 
from simple to simple, from simple to complex, from 
complex to more complex, from complex to simple. 

4. From the Particular to the General — We find, in the 
foregoing chapter, a very definite confirmation of what 
had previously been laid down about this maxim. 
There is the same progress from the one to the many, 
and from the knowledge of facts to a knowledge of the 
reasons for them. But that knowledge of the one which 
suggests, and enables us finally to work out, the higher 
knowledge of the many, is now seen to be itself a matter 



400 EDUCATION 

of gradual and systematic growth, which needs time 
and care for its successful cultivation. 

Another point also is impressed upon us. There is a 
second way in which we can be said to move from the 
general to the particular. The first way is through the 
purely rational process of deductive reasoning. But 
from the practical point of view the greater wholes, 
which contain smaller wholes, are often in themselves 
a unity representing a class. Thus, to look out upon a 
forest is, in a very implicitly practical sense, to begin 
with an impression of a class. In such cases it is clear 
that the movement of analysis is from the general to 
the particular. 

But all this is quite implicit from the point of view 
of the beginner ; and is only worthy of notice, because 
it involves the conditions through which the educator 
can encourage the concurrent development of the ideas 
of the general and the particular. We previously drew 
attention to the fact of such a simultaneous develop- 
ment being inevitable ; and we now see how it can be 
assisted, by arranging that the beginner shall have as 
many helpful experiences of the above kind as can be 
conveniently provided. 

The full statement of this principle will be : From 
the particular to the particular, from particulars to the 
general, from the general to the more general, and from 
the general to the particular. 

Pestalozzi says : " It is a chief business of education 
to pass from distinctly perceived individual notions to 
clear general notions " (De Garmo). The other point 
of view is expressed by Comenius in his maxims. He 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 401 

says : " Nature begins all its formation from generals, 
and thence proceeds to specialise .... A painter in 
painting a portrait does not draw first the nose, then 
the ears, etc., but outlines the whole man on canvas 
roughly with chalk, and then proceeds to fill in. So 
with instruction, the outline should first be given." 
" Everything should be so taught as to show how it is 
and becomes — i.e., per causas. Priora should come first, 
and posteriora next ; and, therefore, whatever is pre- 
sented as an object of knowledge, should be presented 
first generally, and thereafter in its parts. All the 
parts of a thing should be known, even the more 
minute, none being omitted : also its order, situation, 
and connection with other things " (Laurie). 

Dr. 0. A. McMurry remarks that " Perfect vigour 
of thought which we aim at in education, is marked by 
strength along three lines — the vigour of the individual 
ideas ; the extent and variety of ideas under control ; 
and the connection and harmony of ideas." 

5. From the Indefinite to the Definite. — This is a maxim 
with which we have not hitherto dealt. It is peculiarly 
appropriate to the development of knowledge, from the 
educational standpoint. To get clear, distinct, and 
approximately adequate ideas, we must pass, more or 
less slowly, through the obscure, confused, and very 
inadequate, stages of such ideas. 

Mr. Herbert Spencer has put this matter very clearly 
and convincingly. He says : "The first perceptions and 
thoughts are extremely vague. As from a rudimentary 
eye, discerning only the difference between light and 
darkness, the progress is to an eye that distinguishes 

2c 



402 EDUCATION 

kinds and gradations of colour, and details of form, with 
the greatest exactness ; so, the intellect as a whole and in 
each faculty, beginning with the rudest discriminations 
among objects and actions, advances towards discrimi- 
nations of increasing nicety and distinctness. ... It 
is not practicable, nor would it be desirable if practic- 
able, to put precise ideas into the undeveloped mind. 

" Only as the multiplication of experiences gives 
material for definite conceptions — only as observation 
year by year discloses the less conspicuous attributes 
which distinguish things and processes previously 
confounded together — only as each class of co-existences 
and sequences become familiar through the recurrences 
of cases coming under it — only as the various classes of 
relations get accurately marked off from each other by 
mutual limitation ; can the exact definitions of advanced 
knowledge become truly comprehensible. 

" Thus in education we must be content to set out 
with crude notions. These we must aim to make 
gradually clearer by facilitating the acquisition of 
experiences such as will correct, first their greatest 
errors, and afterwards their successively less marked 
errors. And the scientific formulae must be given only 
as fast as the conceptions are perfected." 

The same point is emphasised by Plato in what 
appears to be the contradictory assertion that the child 
must be taught the false before he can learn the true. 
But this must not be taken to mean that the educator 
is to deliberately misrepresent things to the learner, 
and get him to learn that which is known to be false. 
On the contrary, this is just what the educator must 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 403 

above all things avoid. His chief function is to help 
the beginner to learn truth through truth to the greatest 
possible extent. It is because only vague and superficial 
notions of things can at first be given to the learner, and 
that these can only be more or less dimly understood, 
that misleading and false ideas are sure to arise in the 
ignorant mind. 

Even the most learned scientist is, at first, in just 
such a condition, when engaged in trying to work out 
new lines of thought and action. And those who have 
had experience in teaching older pupils, and adults, 
well know how difficult it is to get them to form first 
ideas about new knowledge-subjects, and how that it is 
still more difficult to correct the misleading sugges- 
tions which the misconceptions of these first notions 
involve. 

Great caution ought, therefore, to be exercised as to 
the use of fairy tales. By all means let the first 
presentations of knowledge be as vivid, graphic, and 
striking as possible ; but in education, as elsewhere, it 
is the case that truth is stranger than fiction, and 
certainly it is vastly more helpful. To carefully build 
up in the child's mind, when it is in its most receptive, 
responsive, and retentive stage, just what we know we 
shall have to endeavour to pull down again because it 
is unsound, and prejudicial to that which is accurate and 
valuable, is, to say the least of it, not very wise or 
economical. As stories of "bogies" are often perma- 
nently disastrous to the moral nature, so are others 
likely to be to the intellectual powers. 

Children love not fairy tales because they are false, 



404 EDUCATION 

but by reason of their wonder fulness. Equally wonderful 
to the child are the stories of real adventure in unknown 
lands, amongst strange surroundings, with ferocious 
animals and savage men. The facts of science may be 
made equally surprising and attractive to them, if they 
are carefully presented with verbal picturesqueness and 
allowable literary art. 

A grave misconception as to the educational signifi- 
cance of the history of the race seems to us to underlie 
the ordinary advocacy of the use of ancient fairy tales 
and traditional folk-lore. Now, we ought not to repeat 
even the manner of the racial development in so far as 
we have reason to hold that it has been mischievous 
or undesirable. Much less ought we to repeat the 
material ; for this would be to go back to primitive 
savagery, both mentally and morally. Again, the 
proportion of the lengths of the different stages of 
development in the race are more or less inversely 
related in the development of the individual of to-day. 
Primitive man was, for nearly the whole of his life, in 
that stage of development which children of to-day 
should pass through, and in many respects beyond, in 
their first seven years. 

Just in the same way an adult of the present time 
will, as a rule, pass through th< j perceptual stage of a 
new knowledge-subject in a fraction of the time in 
which a child would do so ; and, in many cases, the 
adult will be able, practically, to begin with the con- 
ceptual elements of a fresh subject. 

If these contentions be allowed, it is clear that there 
are several conditions which we should insist upon 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 405 

before making use of the suggestions of racial develop- 
ment. Much more will these apply to the ancient 
products of racial development. First, then, we ought 
to satisfy ourselves that the influence involved in the 
telling of fairy tales is a desirable one. There can be 
but little, if any, doubt that it is an entirely effective, 
and, from that point of view, a desirable one. 
The excited interest, vigorous, and even absorbed, 
attention which stories arouse, are the most valuable 
and effective agents in early development. We may 
therefore accept thrilling stories as having an educational 
place and function in early life. 

Next we must consider to what end, and, therefore, 
for what period, such an influence should be used. 
Without discussing this point in detail, we will take it 
as generally allowed that the purpose of such stories is 
to introduce a more exact and serious knowledge about 
things. If this be admitted, it will probably also be 
granted that their systematic use ought to be discontinued 
so soon as the powers of attention and work become 
somewhat steady and vigorous. We should suggest 
that this is the case by the seventh year at the latest. 

Again, it is necessary to very carefully examine the 
question of the wisdom of employing very old material 
for our purposes. It must be remembered that tradi- 
tional folk-lore represents, to a considerable extent, the 
real beliefs of our forefathers, due to what we consider 
to be their gross ignorance and consequent superstitious- 
ness. If this be so, to invite children to receive and 
retain such material is to subject them to a lower form 
of development, instead of introducing them to a higher. 



406 EDUCATION 

One other very serious objection to the use of tales 
which art in direct opposition to the truths of nature 
and knowledge is that their use violates the maxims: 
from the known to the unknown : and, from the simple 
to the complex. Ordinary fairy tales and folk-lore are 
not only beyond a child's experience, but outside experi- 
ence altogether. And inasmuch as they encourage the 
personifying tendency of the little learner, they directly 
lead to error, and make the path to truth very much 
harder to travel. 

If it be urged that such stories give special pleasure 
to children, it may be replied that experience shows 
that equally attractive stories based upon actual facts 
give just as much present pleasure, and provide an 
abiding source of further enjoyment, instead of future 
difficulties. All who have observed little children will 
know how hardly they part from their beliefs in the 
personality of some of their toys, especially if they have 
been encouraged in what is supposed to be their very 
clever imaginings, but which are but the mistakes of 
profound ignorance. 

That period in the history of the race in which life, 
personality, and intelligent design — as in the human 
being — are attributed to each of the separate powers 
of nature, as then known (which anthropologists tech- 
nically speak of as animism), is doubtless an inevitable 
feature in human development ; but these errors should 
be corrected by the better knowledge which we possess, 
and not fostered by repeating that which expresses 
original ignorance. 

The chief value of the old fairy tales, traditions, and 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 407 

folk-lore, is to serve as models to the educator as to the 
form in which he may expect verbal communication to 
be most effective, in very early years. As Dr. Karl 
Lange points out, the fairy tale involves no definite 
limitations of time or space. It is simply " once upon 
a time," " long, long ago/' as to when things happened ; 
and there is, as a rule, no definite place, or scene of 
action ; whilst fairies can transport themselves to the 
uttermost ends of the earth in the twinkling of an eye. 
These features are not originally due to a profound and 
luxurious power of constructive imagination, but to 
ignorance, and want of power to realise the details and 
relations of space, time, energy, and the like. 

Here then are the elements through which we may 
make the very earliest communications most attractive 
and effective : strangeness, wonderfulness, and magical- 
ness, in the sense that the details of the real relations 
of time, space, power, process, and sequence, are more 
or less ignored. After all, therefore, we see that it is the 
element of indefiniteness which is the essential feature. 
And this is so because of its appropriateness to the 
child's powers and experiences, and its consequent in- 
ability to grasp either detail or dependence. It is the 
manner, and not the matter, which is of real value. 

Surely, therefore, the proper thing to do is to subject 
children to the fairy tale material of our own times and 
knowledge. The fairy tales and wonders of science, 
history, travel, adventure, and the like, will, we hold, 
satisfy, in the best form, every possible requirement of 
the case. If this be so, then the period during which 
we seek to get progress through proceeding from the 



408 EDUCATION 

indefinite to the indefinite, and so gradually to the 
definite, will be very much shortened. The old method 
is quite off the line of approach to the definite, and, 
therefore, tends to prolong the period of indefinite 
ideas. 

Plato has the following on this point : " Shall we just 
carelessly allow children to hear any casual tales which 
may be devised by casual persons, and to receive into 
their minds ideas for the most part the very opposite of 
those which we should wish them to have when they 
are grown up ? . . . Then the first thing will be to 
establish a censorship of the works of fiction, and let 
the censors receive any tale of fiction which is good, 
and reject the bad ; and we will desire mothers and 
nurses to tell their children the authorised ones only. 
Let them fashion the mind with such tales, even more 
fondly than they mould the body with their hands ; 
but most of those which are now in use must be dis- 
carded " (Dr. Jowett). 

Broadly speaking, we should say that the maxim : 
from the indefinite to the definite, requires that the 
educator should first endeavour to impart general 
ideas about the more obvious and superficial features of 
an object. This should be done by an outline sketch 
of the whole. Not that this is to be supplied wholly 
by him. The learner must tell all he knows, and dis- 
cover as much more as possible, under wise guidance, 
before communicated information is made use of. This 
involves the mastery of most of the more or less indefi- 
nite elements of knowledge connected with any given 
unit. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 409 

Next we must make a closer analysis of each of the 
main features, or constituent wholes, and so gain a 
fuller and clearer idea of them and of the unit whole. 
When we have thus arrived at a practically complete 
knowledge of the chief characteristics of each of the 
main features, or constituent wholes, and their concrete 
relations to each other and the total, we may consider 
that we possess definite ideas about the matter. Thus 
we have progressed from the indefinite to the definite 
in its simpler and less profound form. 

Finally we go on making further and further an- 
alyses till almost every practicable particle, or feature, 
of the whole is known to us. For arriving at such a 
result, the previous, or first, form of definite ideas is a 
necessary condition. In this way we proceed from the 
definite to the still more definite. . 

"We have made reference only to concrete ideas, or 
percepts, in describing the three stages, but the same 
order of progress applies to the formation of purely 
rational ideas. It will be seen, therefore, that the 
maxim applies separately, to the concrete or perceptual 
form of knowledge, and likewise to the abstract or con- 
ceptual form. This is because the stages of develop- 
ment are definitely repeated with regard to these ; as 
they are also repeated, in different proportions as to 
the length and intensity of each stage, in all markedly 
new departures in knowledge during later life. 

The Principle of Information. — The opinion that the 
chief, if not sole, end of so-called education is the im- 
parting of as much information as possible in a given 
time, was formerly, and in many cases is still, held. 



410 EDUCATION 

But this is in direct conflict with the views of educa- 
tion which we have contended for. Yet the view that 
as much information as possible should be given, is 
by no means entirely excluded from having a proper 
place and function in a scientific system of educative 
development. For we can only educate through 
information, experiential and verbal, and the more 
knowledge we can impart the better. Whenever in- 
formation is really imparted more or less educational 
development must result, whether this be designed and 
systematic, or incidental and unmethodical. Hence 
the greater the amount of information imparted, within 
reasonable limits, the larger will be the resulting 
development. 

Herbart expresses the connection between education 
and information thus : " I have no conception of edu- 
cation without instruction, just as, conversely, in this 
book at least, I do not acknowledge any instruction 
which does not educate. Whatever arts and acquire- 
ments a young man may learn from a teacher for the 
mere sake of profit, are as indifferent to the educator as 
the colour he chooses for his coat. But how his circle 
of thought is being formed is everything to the teacher, 
for out of thoughts come feelings, and from them prin- 
ciples and modes of action. 

" To think out in relation to this chain of develop- 
ment each and everything that can be offered to the 
pupil and find a place in his mind, to inquire how each 
is connected with the whole, how one part must follow 
another, and again become a link to that which succeeds 
— this, applied to the treatment of individual objects, 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 411 

affords an infinite number of problems to the teacher, 
and also unlimited material, by the help of which he 
can ceaselessly think over and criticise all the know- 
ledge and works accessible, as well as all the principal 
occupations and exercises he must carry on." 

The great difference between the educationist and 
the informationist is that the former regards the im- 
parting of information, in the first place, as only a 
means of education, though finally as an end ; whilst 
the latter always regards it as an end, and looks upon 
education as being merely the giving of information, 
or rather offering the individual an opportunity of ap- 
propriating it, if he can. The educationist asks : How 
can I so impart information that it shall draw out, 
exercise, develop, and improve the mental powers, and 
thus make the learner able to acquire knowledge in 
the most easy and effective way ; but the informa- 
tionist only concerns himself with the endeavour to 
thrust upon the individual as much information as it 
seems advisable for him to have. The educationist is 
ever striving to secure development by his work ; but 
the mere informationist is only educative in so far as 
he cannot avoid it, and is driven to make use of 
educational processes by the inevitable necessities of 
the case. 

We may, therefore, say that education proper pre- 
pares for the adequate reception of information, as 
such ; and that appropriate information, as such, 
should, as a rule, be given only when the powers and 
processes necessary for its most effective appropriation 
have been satisfactorily developed. In other words, 



412 EDUCATION 

the time to give information, at least to any consider- 
able extent, otherwise than as directly necessary to 
illustrate the details in educative processes, is when 
the learner has acquired, through systematic educational 
influences, the power to apply knowledge obtained to 
the solution of problems, the interpretation of the ex- 
periences of others, and the invention of more or less 
simple forms. 

When the learner is thus able to deal with informa- 
tion, as such, the more he is provided with the better, 
so long as it does not injuriously interrupt a proper 
rate of progress. For in this way the mind is richly 
stored with material which is always helpful to the 
fuller and freer interpretation of both old and new 
forms of knowledge, as well as being a pleasurable and 
profitable possession in other directions. Also the 
novelty thus provided is demanded by the principle 
of interest as a constant stimulus to, and reward for, 
vigorous attention and reproductive and constructive 
effort. 

Further, this is necessary to the proper progress of 
knowledge. A wearisome repetition of the same small 
circle of knowledge as based upon experience, is likely, 
in the long run, to prove comparatively barren and 
unsatisfactory with respect to the total development. 
Whilst it is absolutely essential that education must 
begin within the sphere of present experience and 
knowledge, it is not less important that it should 
gradually extend to knowledge more and more remote 
from the actual environment and personal experience. 
Information is an important and valuable means of 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 413 

securing this extension ; and rational inference is the 
only other means of so doing. 

Information which is thus given, should, to a large 
extent, be of the greatest possible practical utility. As 
was pointed out in the discussion on the element of 
the " utility value " of educative forms of knowledge, 
practical life is, in many respects, the starting-point 
and goal of knowledge. It is as necessary, therefore, 
as it is pleasurable and profitable, to relate our know- 
ledge as closely and extensively as possible with our 
lives. We cannot escape doing this, to a very con- 
siderable extent ; and it is allowable and advisable that 
we should seek to do it in every reasonable way. 

Dr. Bain says, of the ordinary facts of knowledge : " In 
bo far as they are devoid of connection and system, they 
are information solely. In so far as they can be em- 
bodied in an orderly scheme — a descriptive method, 
which facilitates both the recollection and the under- 
standing of them, they rise to some sort of training. 
They require the pupils to master the scheme, and so 
give them possession of it, as an art that they may 
themselves employ in dealing with similar detail." It 
is this power which comes from drilling in the art of 
systemising which makes the learning of Latin so 
valuable a mental training. 

" All those facts that relate to useful operation in the 
arts of life, that serve to guide artificers in their work, 
and to instruct every one how to obtain desirable ends, 
constitute a vast body of useful information. The 
recipes of cookery, the arts of industry and of manu- 
facture, the cure of disease, the procedure in courts of 



414 EDUCATION 

law, are most valuable as information ; but they are 
not regarded as giving us any form of discipline. . . . 

" Nevertheless, it is not a low order of intelligence 
that has taken in, remembered, and is able to apply 
an extensive stock of maxims of practice and utility 
in various departments. There may not be anything 
amounting to high discipline, but there is an expendi- 
ture of good intellectual force. The higher the cha- 
racter of the work, the more scope is there for fine 
discrimination or accurate perception, in order to suit 
means to the end .... and when we touch the higher 
degrees, we come upon something that involves the best 
faculties or forces of the mind. 

" The truth is, that for the higher professions the 
extent of practical knowledge is such that it cannot be 
comprehended, held together, or rendered sufficiently 
precise, unless we have a certain amount of science and 
scientific method, such as would probably come within 
the scope of discipline." 

The high mental value, and great practical import- 
ance of information, as such, must not be lost sight of 
in education. But it should be remembered that the 
mind which has not had its powers and skill first de- 
veloped is either lumbered or crushed with a mass of 
material. Not information but power to use it is the 
first aim of education. As Locke puts it : " Tiie busi- 
ness of education is not, as I think, to make the young- 
perfect in any one of the sciences, but so to open and 
dispose their minds as may best make them capable of 
any when they shall apply themselves to it." 

The great danger to be avoided is what has been 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 415 

called encyclopaedism, or, as old writers on education 
termed it, pansophism. Strangely enough, Comenius, 
great thinker though he was, believed in pansophism. 
" Let all the arts and sciences," he said, " be taught in 
their elements in all schools, and more fully at each 
successive stage of the pupil's progress. It is by know- 
ledge that we are what we are, and the necessary con- 
clusion from this must be, ' Let all things be taught to 
all ' " (Laurie). 

Professor Laurie remarks on this passage: "The 
mind stored with facts, even if these be ordered facts, 
will not necessarily be much raised in the scale of 
humanity as an intelligence. The natural powers may 
be simply overweighted by the process, and the natural 
channels of spontaneous reason choked." 

Speaking of the curriculum of the American schools 
of to-day, Dr. C. A. McMurry says : " Children have 
too much to learn. They become pack-horses, instead 

of free spirits walking in the fields of knowledge 

The cultivation therefore, of a many-sided interest 
ceases to be a blessing as encyclopaedic knowledge 
becomes its aim." He adds that we must not identify 
" many-sided interest with encyclopaedic knowledge, but 
[with] such a detailed study of typical forms in each 
case as will give insight into that branch without any 
pretension to exhaustive knowledge." 

But culture value in information must not be neglected, 
for this makes life richer and more delightful to the 
individual, and to the community. This should, there- 
fore, be freely supplied through appropriate subjects. 
The giving of such through appropriate subjects is a 



416 EDUCATION 

very important condition ; for, we submit, to use some 
of the choicest extracts of the great literary classics for 
the purpose of grammatical analysis, parsing, and, above 
all, of paraphrase, is much more likely to prevent the 
possibility of getting any culture influence from them 
than to obtain even a suggestion of it. It is not by 
mechanically pulling artistic wholes to pieces that we 
realise their aesthetic beauties. Literature should be 
presented as literature, and not as grammar, composition, 
etymology, archaeology, or history. 

So also the culture elements in history and geography 
must be kept quite clear from the more technical aspects, 
if they are to have their proper culture effect. Similarly, 
with respect to music and colour-work, there must be 
definite efforts to secure the realisation of the purely 
asthetic values of a song or a picture, apart from the 
technical details which are necessary for the production 
of the actual results. It is true that the more fully the 
practical details are understood the deeper and truer 
the purely artistic appreciation is likely to be ; but 
the two things are distinct, as is shown by the fact 
that persons with really no technical knowledge often 
have the keenest possible appreciation of art, whilst 
there are those who have learnt to produce the mechan- 
ical effects of art but are quite without real artistic 
feeling. 

We can now estimate more accurately the exact place 
and functions of institutions for students who are about 
eighteen years of age, and upwards. If such students 
have been subjected to an ordinarily full course of scien- 
tific education during their childhood and youth, they 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 417 

are no longer either in need of, or suitable for, the usual 
processes of education as carried ou by a formal educator. 
The individual ought to have arrived, fully equipped, 
at the stage of self-education. All that is necessary, 
therefore, should be the supplying of appropriate, accu- 
rate, and advanced information. 

Hence one of the chief functions of such institutions 
as universities, university colleges, technical colleges, 
and all places of learning of these kinds, is to provide 
the most complete and profound forms of information. 
We may say that all such as these should be places 
whose function is informational rather than educational. 
Nevertheless, it is as necessary in them, as elsewhere, 
that information should be presented in a scientifically 
educational way, if the student is to derive the greatest 
and highest good from it. 

But the very highest function of such institutions is 
to encourage, provide for, and assist the student in that 
self-education which seeks to develop the productive 
and inventive ability to its best form. Hence research, 
investigation, experiment, scientific theorisation, inven- 
tion, and constructive and destructive criticism, should 
be well provided for at such centres. 

The Principle of Symbolism. — From the point of view 
of progress in knowledge, language is something upon 
which we must constantly exercise severe and search- 
ing criticism. But it is also, in its relation to logic, an 
instrument of criticism, for in so far as words — whose 
content of meaning is for the time being a known and 
fixed quantity— will fit into certain verbal forms, and 
fulfil the proper logical laws, they thereby prove them- 

2 D 



418 EDUCATION 

selves to be worthy of rational credence, or otherwise 
with respect to definite inferences and implications. 

In so far as the self-consistency of the verbal ex- 
pression of judgments is concerned, we can test this 
by the laws of deductive logic. For example : if a 
writer argued that all boys are mischievous, later on 
mentioned that all boys are scholars, and finally con- 
cluded by asserting that it followed from what he had 
said that all scholars are mischievous, logic would show 
that the very words which are used do not allow of 
such a conclusion. In the first two judgments there 
is no implication of all scholars, and, therefore, there 
is in them no justification for making any judgment 
about all scholars. 

The educator must demonstrate such principles as 
these in simple and concrete cases, so that the learner 
may be able to guard himself from the dangers of 
language. Since, in his early years, the learner is 
unable to grasp logical principles, as such, he should 
be drilled in what we may call concrete logic, of a 
simple and practically useful kind. Tor example, 
that great type of all syllogistic, or deductive, reason- 
ing, which is involved in the following : all money is 
useful ; all farthings are money ; therefore, all far- 
things are useful; should be concretely demonstrated. 
Let there be provided four convenient boxes labelled, 
" all money," " useful," " all farthings," and " money." 

Then the boxes may be placed near to each other, 
and connected by pieces of cardboard on which the 
predicate word is written. Thus could be arranged 
a concrete form of the first two sentences. Next the 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 419 

learner should be led to see that since the farthings are 
said to be money there is no reason why they should 
not be put in the box in the first line. So also with 
regard to the box labelled " money " in the second line. 
But this is only possible in that the box on the first 
line is said to represent " all money." If it had been 
"some money" the case would be different. This 
point could be worked out more fully afterwards, and 
thus other forms of syllogisms would be demonstrated. 

When things have been arranged as just suggested, 
it will be quite clear that all farthings may be said to 
be useful. It is true that this kind of demonstration 
gives an almost purely quantitative, or class meaning, 
to syllogistic reasoning ; but there is no real objection 
to this, since it is certainly the only way in which it 
can be intelligently understood in the percept period ; 
and such a form of it leads up to the conceptual usage. 

If it be agreed that such a process is likely to prove 
helpful to the learner, by forming habits of scientifi- 
cally critical thought, then it ought to be regularly 
provided for, at least in the finishing exercises of each 
important stage of development. Much more ought 
the principles of logic to be a conscious possession and 
power in the case of the self-educator. 

Some practical knowledge of the inductive canons 
of criticism should also be given. Especially should 
this be the case if we accept the conclusion that some 
form of natural science knowledge ought to be the first 
to be imparted to the young mind, Nothing is more 
necessary, or likely to be more helpful, than to get the 
youthful thinker to recognise, in however simple and 



420 EDUCATION 

practical a form, that there may often be, and gener- 
ally is, a plurality of causes for a given effect ; and, 
therefore, the real problem is to satisfy ourselves that, 
iu a particular instance, it is, and can be, only such- 
and-such a cause which is actually present. This 
involves an application of the logical " method of differ- 
ence." 

To give a very simple example : an inkstand may 
have been left on a table in the schoolroom at the end 
of morning school, and at the beginning of the afternoon 
work it may be found lying on the floor, near the table, 
and broken to pieces. An inquiry may be undertaken 
as to how this came about. Even very young children 
would be able to suggest several possible causes, such 
as : someone purposely threw it down ; it was acci- 
dentally knocked down by a pupil when passing the 
table ; it was pushed down when some books were put 
on the table; the table has been moved, and it was 
shaken off; there has been a heavy storm of wind, 
and it was blown off when the school door was opened ; 
and so on. So much will be quite sufficient to impress 
the fact of the plurality of causes, and the need of 
sufficient reasons for asserting that it was such-and-such 
a cause which has led to the given effect. 

Next as to which is to be considered the active cause 
in this case. Let us suppose that it can be shown that 
the inkstand was seen to be quite safe and sound on 
the table five minutes before the beginning of afternoon 
school, and that no one entered the room during that 
five minutes. Further, that when the door was opened 
there occurred a very violent gust of wind, which swept 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 421 

through the room. Clearly, then, the only element of 
difference which can account for the change in the 
position and state of the inkstand is the force of the 
gust of wind. And it is known, from actual experi- 
ence and experiment, that the wind is able to do such 
things. Therefore we conclude without hesitation, and 
with full rational certainty, that the wind was the cause 
of the fall of the inkstand. 

Thus we demonstrate, in a very simple and common- 
place way, the logical " method of difference," as 
involved in a practical form of inductive reasoning. 
Later on in the child's development more technical 
applications of the rule can be made, in its studies of 
the phenomena of natural science. 

In this way language has become an instrument of 
scientific criticism of thought, through its inseparable 
connection with it, and through the original activities 
of thought criticism which it expresses and records, and 
which, expressed in technical forms, serve as mechani- 
cal means of testing the accuracy and reliability of a 
particular reasoning. More and more of the logical 
principles, in concrete applications, could be given as 
the powers of the pupil develop, and as occasion offers ; 
until he is finally introduced to the study of logic, as 
such. 

Language has reached its highest uses when it thus 
becomes a means by which thought consciously checks 
and corrects itself. This function of symbolism should 
be made use of at the very earliest moment, and its full 
and explicit employment gradually and systematically 
developed. The full significance and value of this can 



422 EDUCATION 

only be shown by a complete discussion of the relations 
between logic and education. 

One of the most important points to be observed in 
the use of language is that of proper gradation. Words 
which are quite familiar to the hearer, and which are 
used in a sense equally familiar to him, are the only 
suitable ones for imparting full and significant know- 
ledge. Very great care and art, are, therefore, neces- 
sary in introducing new words, or groupings of words, 
which involve new significations. Very full material 
and opportunity for associating the sign and its signifi- 
cance must be provided. 

Gradation in language means, of course, gradation in 
the thought which it symbolises. It is seldom that the 
form of a word, as such, is difficult to remember, but the 
content of meaning is very often so. Dr. Abbott re- 
marks : " The ' In Memoriam ' is written mainly in mono- 
syllables ; yet there is in it little which a child could 

thoroughly understand But give a boy a piece 

of description, narrative, or stirring incident, and you 
will find that long words will create little difficulty." 
Mr. Welldon insists on the same truth in arguing that 
boys are allowed to begin the study of Shakespeare at 
too early an age. He says that, in his own case, he 
attributes the small pleasure he derived from his first 
reading of "Hamlet," as compared with the intense 
delight which he obtained from his first reading of 
" Faust," to the fact that he was too young when he 
read the former. 

In connection with the above we may discuss the 
place of books in educational work. The right use of 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 423 

books in education is by no means a simple or easy 
matter to decide. Perhaps the most essential point to be 
considered is the fact that books are, primarily, records. 
They are, in themselves, dead voices, and, except under 
very favourable conditions of interpretation by the 
living voice of an expert, they are liable to all the mis- 
constructions which the ambiguity of language, the 
literary style of the author, and the ignorance of readers 
can conjointly perpetrate. 

There is no possibility of making the book say exactly 
what it means by such-and-such statements : of obtain- 
ing from it more detailed exposition, or fuller demon- 
stration : or of securing from it a reply to individual 
objections to the assertions it contains. It simply con- 
tains so much matter, of which the reader is left to 
make the best, or worst, use that he can. All this must 
always be true of every book, except in so far as the 
reader has been carefully and wisely prepared for 
rightly using and understanding a particular book. 
That is, the principle of preparation is an essential con- 
dition to the best use of books for educational purposes. 

Books, as educational agencies, should primarily re- 
present the best forms of summaries and records of 
knowledge, gained in the usual way. To this end the 
first books should be the direct outcome of lessons, and 
the student's own efforts. In other words, the learner 
must make and use his own books before he is allowed 
to — or, indeed, can profitably — make use of those made 
by others. This must be true, if what we have pre- 
viously said about the use of words be correct. 

Let us illustrate this by an example. The earliest 



424 EDUCATION 

formal and systematic lesson on a natural object — in 
the later stages of kindergarten work — will necessarily 
be a language lesson as well as a thought and informa- 
tion lesson. The new words introduced should be 
written on the blackboard ; the sentences in which they 
are properly used should also be so recorded ; and these 
sentences ought to be combined so as to form a simple 
narrative. Thus the blackboard is the earliest form of 
the book, for formal educational purposes. In this way 
we proceed from experiences to ideas, from ideas to 
expressions, and from expressions to records. 

When the purpose and significance of books have 
thus become real and familiar, they may be used as 
substitutes for the learner's own records, to expand 
them, and, finally, to supplant them ; and even to intro- 
duce a new subject, when the stage of regressive advance 
has been reached. We may say, therefore, that, except in 
the very latest stage of ordinary school education, the 
text-book should invariably be used as a convenient record 
and summary of the results of concrete demonstrations 
and oral instruction. Its proper use is to serve for 
purposes of revision, and not of introduction, much less 
as a substitute for experience and demonstration. As 
Mr. H. GL Wells insists, in his lecture on science teach- 
ing : " Above all, except in the upper forms, there 
would be no text-book. Each pupil would build up his 
own in his note-book as he proceeded." 

The chief function of books, in education, is to be an 
aid to self-education. Mr. Wells urges that: "The 
ideal school should have a good library .... and therein 
would be all the big science text-books .... and to 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 425 

these the boy or girl in the higher forms would go for 
facts and discussions, guided at first by references pro- 
vided by the teacher. In this way the ability to use 
books intelligently, and to work alone, would be 
acquired." 

It may be remarked here that the purely literary read- 
ing-book should — except as the records of stories told 
orally, in prose or verse — follow the properly descrip- 
tive and informational reading-book, at each stage of de- 
velopment. And this because its effective use can only 
thus be properly provided for ; and, also, because the 
aesthetic powers to which it ministers are later in their 
development. 

We must remember that want of exactness in the use 
of words will tend to bring about inaccuracy in thought. 
Dr. Sully emphasises this fact, and urges that the 
learner " Should be well practised from the first in ex- 
plaining the words he employs. It is of great import- 
ance to see that a child never employs any word with- 
out attaching some intelligible meaning to it. He 
should be questioned as to his meaning, and prove him- 
self able to give concrete instances or examples of the 
notion, and (where possible) to define his term, roughly 
at least." 

The Principle of Gradation. — A truth which has been 
forced upon us with special emphasis during the pre- 
vious discussions is : that development is very gradual 
both in quality, quantity, and kind. Again and again, 
we have had to urge the need of the most careful con- 
sideration being given to the securing of the right order, 
amount, and time, for the various developing influences. 



426 EDUCATION 

Educators might well have as their mottoes : " Make 
haste slowly " ; and " Precept upon precept, precept upon 
precept ; line upon line, line upon line ; here a little, 
and there a little." There is no principle in the whole 
range of the science of education which is of greater 
importance than this. Too much, or too little, of 
stimulation, nourishment, and exercise : too rapid, or 
too slow, a rate of advance : or too spasmodic, and too 
violent, bursts of development, must mean a warped, or 
dwarfed, development. 

Eousseau has the following passages in his " Emile." 
" May I venture to state here the greatest, the most 
important, the most useful rule in all education ? It is 
not to gain time but to lose it. Forgive the paradox, 
my ordinary readei' ! It must be uttered by any one who 
reflects, and whatever you may say, I prefer paradoxes 

to prejudices Listen to a little fellow who has 

just been under instruction. Let him prattle, question, 
blunder, just as he pleases, and you will be surprised at 
the turn your reasonings have taken in his mind. He 
confounds one thing with another ; he reverses every- 
thing ; he tires you, sometimes worries you, by un- 
expected objections. He forces you to hold your peace, 
or to make him hold his." 

Very much, therefore, depends upon the clear and 
complete understanding of what is involved in this 
principle, and we can hardly spend too much time or 
effort in the endeavour to thoroughly grasp its nature 
and implications. A great deal has already been said 
about it, since it is but a special aspect of the general 
principle of development. That is, the principle seeks 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 427 

to secure in the educative influences a development 
coinciding as nearly as possible, and co-operating, with 
what we believe to be the proper development ol mind. 
We will briefly recall what has been previously said 
about this principle. When dealing with the principle 
of stimulation, we urged that the quantity, proportion, 
and duration of influences and re-actions, must be pro- 
perly regulated. Similarly, the quality and quantity of 
nourishment must be appropriate. The principle of 
preparation may be regarded as a specially systemised 
effort in gradation, in that it involves a deliberate and 
thorough provision for the easy and right reception and 
appreciation of experiences. 

The great central and fundamental principle of de- 
velopment may be described as a principle of gradation. 
It enforces and emphasises the great truth of the 
necessity of proceeding in certain definite orders. 
Gradation is the burden of the maxims: from the con- 
crete to the concrete : from the concrete to the abstract : 
from the abstract to the concrete. So also with the 
other practical rules, and the educational meaning which 
they possess ; they all insist upon the need of grada- 
tion. 

But the most explicit and emphatic statement of the 
essential feature of the principle is contained in what 
has been said about the maxim : from the simple to the 
complex. In the several discussions of this maxim, we 
have constantly insisted upon the necessity of observing 
the order of greatest simplicity, because complexity is 
the chief element of difficulty to both mind and body. 
Professor L. C. Miall remarks : " Whatever subject you 



428 EDUCATION 

handle, go for simplicity of impression. If you bring 
in many details, make them help one another." 

So, again, the principles of doing, sympathetic con- 
trol, analysis and synthesis, and symbolism, all involve, 
imply, and explicate, the idea of gradual increase in 
kind and degree of the processes and produces of 
development. All the concrete examples and illus- 
trations of these principles which have been given 
show in detail how the elements of gradation have to 
be provided for. ' 

We may sum up the significance of these, by saying 
that the principle of gradation must provide for the 
careful observance of the following features in any 
system of developing influences. First, they must, at 
each stage, correspond, as exactly as possible, with the 
nature and vigour of the actual developing powers, 
so that, whilst providing for, and encouraging those 
powers which may be expected to immediately follow, 
they may not prevent or pervert those which are ex- 
plicitly developing. 

Secondly, they must change in their kind and degree 
according to the significant changes in the development 
of the individual. This is a very wide condition, and 
embraces all that is implied in the progress from the 
known to the unknown, the simple to the complex, the 
concrete to the abstract, childhood to manhood, ignor- 
ance to knowledge, weakness to strength, inability and 
awkwardness to capacity and facility, and so on. 

Besides these there are other points about which it 
will be well to say a few words. We have before dwelt 
upon the need of clearness in overcoming the difficulty 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 429 

presented by a complex. But this point is deserving of 
further notice. Dr. De Garmo deals with it under the 
term " the law of successive clearness." He speaks of 
the need of a certain amount of time for presentations 
to be properly apperceived, and then says : " Upon the 
fact that certain easily distinguishable amounts of time 
are required for this reception and apprehension of 
individual notions, and the interaction between indi- 
vidual and general conceptions, is based the law of suc- 
cessive clearness. 

"This law was first announced by Katich [Eatke], 
and was afterwards developed and applied by Herbart 
and Ziller. According to this idea, the matter of in- 
struction must not be presented in the mass, but in 
small, logically connected sections, to each of which, in 
succession, the pupil should give his undivided attention. 
In this way, one by one, individual notions are clearly 
perceived After the mind has given its con- 
centrated attention to each of the successive sections of 
the lesson in turn, these subdivisions must be brought 
into close relation and connection, i.e., . . . into a unity 
in consciousness." 

Now this method of procedure clearly involves the 
existence of a series. As Dr. De Garmo goes on to 
say : " It is a prime duty of the teacher to see that the 
elements of what is presented are arranged in natural 
series, so that intimate and lasting associations can be 
formed." This applies not only to the details within the 
same unit, but also to items of knowledge which do not 
appear to have any obvious organic connection, e.g., 
arithmetical tables, declensions, conjugations, formation 



430 EDUCATION 

of genders, geographical names, historical dates, and the 
like. Herein lies the value of any reasonable system 
of mnemonics. 

Another very important feature in the principle of 
gradation is that of regularity. The cumulation of 
effect, which comes from a constant and uninterrupted 
addition of suitable amounts, is of the very greatest 
value. Both substance and power are thus secured. 
Dr. Abbott insists that : " Second-rate regular teaching 
is better for the very young than first-rate teaching, if 
the latter be very irregular." This applies as much to 
the details of a sound system as to the system itself. 
By regularity, progress is made more easy, consistent, 
and permanent. 

A gradual increase in the rapidity with which pro- 
cesses are carried through should also be provided for. 
Facility in action is as much a matter of development 
as power in action. Only when the details of an action, 
or a series of actions, are thoroughly familiar, and when 
the pupil can accurately perform them — taking as much 
time as he finds necessary for this — should there be any 
endeavour to cultivate speed for its own sake. When, 
however, this stage has been reached then rapidity should 
be striven for. 

Then there is what we may call the element of grasp. 
A beginner is only able to take account of small and 
single things. Later on he can manage larger things, 
and a few at a time. This applies both to mental and 
physical matters. The educator must, therefore, care- 
fully graduate the size and number of the items dealt 
with. Here, as elsewhere, we must expect that, as a 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 431 

rule, success will come through failure, and accuracy 
through inaccuracy. 

Both in perceptual and conceptual development we 
must observe each and all of these conditions of grada- 
tions. More particularly, the practical educator should 
take note that he will have to begin over again, so to 
speak, when he comes to deal with explicit conceptual 
development, after the perceptual has been brought to 
a comparatively high level. Dr. Bain remarks : " All 
the difficulties of the higher knowledge have reference 
to the generalising process— the seeing of one in many. 
The arts of the teacher and the expositor are supremely 
requisite in sweetening the toil of this operation." 

Always, and in everything, the principle of inter- 
relation and inter-dependence must be combined with 
that of gradation. Step by step we must pass out of 
the old into the new, from the near to the remote. 
There ought not to be any attempts at making jumps 
in education. However briefly and lightly we may be 
able to deal with certain elements in a given case, we 
must always assure ourselves that the power is there, 
and that it is able to fully discharge its proper duties. 

Very careful attention needs to be given to the actual 
physical powers and capacities, and their progressive 
development. The vigour, acuteness, and capacity of 
the sense organs, and of the whole muscular system, 
have an essential bearing upon the ordering of the 
educating influences. The great differences which 
have to be made because of such considerations are best 
shown in the case of exceptionally bright or dull 
children. In Germany they have special schools for 



432 EDUCATION 

such. In these schools the dull child is allowed to 
take an hour for what would take an ordinary child 
about ten minutes ; whilst the very susceptible pupil is 
promptly sent off to play — or to bed — directly it begins 
to get over-excited by its work. 

Prom an easy task to one somewhat less easy, the 
learner should be led on, step by step, to more and 
more difficult work. Each step, in the earlier stages, 
must be well wi'thin his grasp and power ; but it should 
increase in difficulty, both as to quality and quantity, 
according to his growing capacities and knowledge. It 
is often the beginnings of things which are most 
difficult. 

This does not mean that the pupil is never to have 
any task in which there is a serious difficulty for him 
to overcome. Occasionally such tasks should be de- 
signedly given, so that he may realise the element of 
difficulty, and learn to appreciate the real value of his 
previous training, and the power of the method of 
gradual attack and progressive mastery. The judicious 
use of problems just in advance of the pupil's power 
and knowledge is one of the most stimulating influ- 
ences. But such ought always to be, more or less 
directly, based upon work actually done, and powers 
known to be possessed. Easy new adaptations, and 
applications of o!d knowledge, are all that ought to be 
expected from beginners. 

Dr. Abbott says : " Sometimes we must set easy 
tasks so as to generate a habit of reasonable self- 
reliance, and prevent the pupil from becoming dis- 
pirited by continual failures. Sometimes we must set 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 433 

more difficult tasks, such as involve some wholesome 
strain of the powers, so as to lead the child up to a 
higher standard of exertion, and prevent him from 
becoming too easily contented with himself." 

As with other principles, so with this, the fuller 
reading of it -must be borne in mind. From the easy 
to the easy : from the easy to the difficult : from the 
difficult to the difficult : and from the difficult to the 
easy, make up the fuller reading. The secret of success 
for the practical educator is the rule : Gradation ; again 
gradation ; and always gradation. 

Some General Remarks. — A few quotations from 
writers on the practice of education will be sufficient to 
show that the principles discussed in this chapter have 
forced themselves upon practical workers. Professor 
Huxley insists on the principle of information in the 
following passage : " The business of education is, in the 
first place, to provide the young with the means and 
the habit of observation ; and, secondly, to supply the 
subject-matter of knowledge, either in the shape of 
science or of art, or of both combined." 

Dr. Fitch puts the value of this principle very for- 
cibly in these words : " We must not, in our zeal for 
those parts of instruction which are specially educative, 
lose sight of the value of even empirical instruction 
about these things. To impart facts is not a teacher's 
highest business, but it is a substantial part of his 

business The best reasons for seeking to give 

your pupils a good basis of facts are that the possession 
of them is very useful ; that all future scientific gene- 
ralisation pre-s apposes them ; that they furnish pabulum 

2e 



434 EDUCATION 

for the thought and the imagination ; and generally that 
life is rich and interesting in proportion to the number 
of things we know and care about." 

The principle of symbolism is recognised in the 
following opinion of the late Professor Freeman, the 
historian : " The difference between good and bad 
teaching mainly consists in this, whether the words 
used are really clothed with a meaning or not." Mr. 
Thring points out the great value of words as an aid to 
thought, and says : " The schoolboy who will not study 
words had better follow the plough, for he will never 

be a thinker of thoughts New words mean new 

powers of thought." This same truth is thus expressed 
by Dr. De Garmo : " Language reflects thought as the 
mirror reflects the image of him who stands before it. 
For this reason the study of language is often the most 
direct road to an understanding of the various elements 
of thought." 

David Stow bases his "Training System" almost 
wholly on what he calls " picturing out in words," 
which, he argues, " enables the pupils to draw the 
lesson or. deduction [i.e., 'the inference which every 
complete sentence or paragraph is intended to convey : ] 
in their own language, the master acting throughout the 
whole process as the trainer or conductor, and only 
furnishing facts which he ascertains that the children 
do not know, and, therefore, for the sake of advance- 
ment, must be told." He adds : " We cannot picture 
out or express objects with which we are not ac- 
quainted." 

He also wisely remarks : " Any word used by a speaker 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 435 

or teacher, and not clearly apprehended by his pupils, 
is without meaning ; by the person speaking it may be 
perfectly understood, but to those addressed, he in reality 

speaks in a foreign tongue A reverend divine, 

on being requested to examine the Sabbath-school 
children of a friend, commenced by putting the follow- 
ing question : ' Children, in the work of regeneration, 
can you tell me whether the spirit operates causally or 
instrumentally ? ' If these children could have an- 
swered this question, they might certainly have been 
transplanted, we think, to the Divinity Hall of the 
University." 

Dr. De Garmo sets forth the principle of gradation 
from the practical side, thus : " The matter of instruc- 
tion must, therefore, be presented in natural sub- 
divisions, thus giving resting-places which allow the 
mind to recover from its absorption, and to fortify itself 
against distraction by bringing its knowledge into 
wholes. How minute the subdivisions of the lessons 
should be, must be determined by the age and mental 

strength of the pupils If the steps of reasoning 

in a problem are not separated and mastered one by 
one, there is instant danger of confusion, though the 
amount which a pupil can master at one impulse grows 
with advancing mental ability. The same law holds, 
also, in all other branches." 

A good example of the practical use of this principle 
is given by Dr. Abbott. He advises teachers to adopt 
the following method in teaching a book of Ccesar. 
" Select from the book to be studied, fifteen or twenty of 
the most difficult of the lon£r sentences, exhibiting most 



436 EDUCATION 

prominently the ordinary complications that perplex 
boys — abundant conjunctions, the idioms of oratio 
obliqua, sentences subordinate to others which are them- 
selves in turn subordinate, ambiguous pronouns, and 
the like. Do not show these sentences to your pupils 
as yet ; but take them to pieces and show them the 
pieces separately. Then, by degrees, put the pieces to- 
gether, and make the boys help you in building up the 
complete sentence." 

From the two preceding quotations it will be seen 
how the principles of gradation and analysis and syn- 
thesis are practically combined. Such combinations 
are found in many of the illustrations. 

The application of the various maxims, and several of 
the general principles, to the higher branches of study 
is well shown in Dr. E. Wormell's book " Plotting or 
Graphic Mathematics." In the introduction, the author 
says : " Although the educational methods which are 
associated with the name of Froebel have been brought 
very near to perfection in the kindergarten, they are to 
a great extent suspended when the pupil passes from 
the infant school. They reappear, however, in the 
schools and colleges for technical and experimental 
science. The graphical and synthetical methods of com- 
paring results and tracing laws, which have been ex- 
tensively developed in these colleges, are but an 
advanced application of Froebellian methods 

" The charm of the method, as in the kindergarten, 
is inherent in its nature. It gives something to be done 
by the hand and followed by the eye — keeping pace 
with the course of thought and reasoning. The proof 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 437 

of a rule or law often lies entirely in the process by 
which the rule- or law is graphically illustrated, and the 
consequence is that the pupil, while following the 
course, is constantly on a voyage of discovery, and has 
all the pleasure and stimulus of an original in- 
vestigator." 

Eousseau says : " "Whatever the study may be, with- 
out the idea of the things represented the signs repre- 
senting them go for nothing" (Quick). Comenius 
writes : " Let words always be conjoined with things. 
Thereby we shall learn about realities " (Laurie). 
Montaigne argues that : " For learning to judge well 
and speak well, whatever presents itself to our eyes 
serves as a sufficient book" (Compayre). 

A good instance of the application of the principle of 
information is given by Comenius, when he urges that : 
" The child may receive elementary notions even of 
politics, in observing that certain persons assemble at 
the city hall, and that they are called councillors ; and 
that among these persons there is one called mayor, 
&c." (Compayre). 

The principle of gradation has been put very clearly, 
in its philosophic form, by Descartes (1596-1650), as 
follows : " The first precept is never to receive any- 
thing for true that I do not know, upon evidence, to be 
such .... and to comprise no more within my judg- 
ments than what is presented so clearly and distinctly 
to my mind that I have no occasion to call it in ques- 
tion : ' (Compayre). 



CHAPTEE X 

DETERMINANTS OF MENTAL GROWTH AND 
DEVELOPMENT 

General Determinants. — That which is alive is always in 
a state of greater or lesser activity, and this activity ne- 
cessarily involves more or less waste. It is absolutely 
necessary for such waste to be repaired if life is to con- 
tinue. This means that nourishment must be supplied 
to, and assimilated by, all living organisms. It must 
follow from this that according to the kind of nourish- 
ment and the results of the assimilation of it. will be the 
general condition of the organism. 

Now the assimilation of nourishment will be accord- 
ing to the nature of that which assimilates and that 
which is assimilated. We must, therefore, take into 
consideration, in connection with this matter, the proper 
nature of mind and of that which nourishes it. Both 
of these have been somewhat fully dealt with in the 
preceding chapters, and it only remains to notice some 
special elements of relation between them. 

The general relation is one of action and re-action. 



MENTAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 439 

Organism and nourishment inter-act upon each other. 
Neither is an absolute principal at any moment, and, 
therefore, neither is an absolute subordinate. There are 
always elements of initiative and of passive reaction in 
each. But, at the same time, there is a general pre- 
dominance of the human organism, both as to initiative 
and control, in the processes involved. This is of 
consequence because it implies, at least in a practical 
sense, that the element of responsibility rests largely 
upon the human being with regard to the particular 
character of actual development. 

But it is not implied that this practical responsibility 
rests wholly, or even chiefly, upon the individual. 
Up to a certain point it is laid upon those who have 
charge of him, such as parents, guardians, and teachers. 
Sooner or later, however, the individual must himself 
be responsible, although this responsibility must always 
be shared in, to some extent, by the society in which 
he lives, in so far as it in any way limits or controls his 
life. 

The original nature of the individual is, therefore, of 
essential importance in determining the general and 
particular nature of his development. The element of 
mere growth is chiefly dependent upon the kind and 
amount of nourishment, and the possession of the 
ordinary powers of assimilation. Hence these are the 
two fundamental determinants. 

Since the mental powers are always engaged in 
receiving, interpreting, relating, recording, and organis- 
ing into higher relations, the significations of experience, 
we may regard experiences, in the very widest sense, as 



440 EDUCATION 

constituting the whole and sole nourishment for mind. 
"We shall, therefore, deal with the subject-matter of this 
chapter under two heads : the original character of the 
human being, and experiences. 

In both of these there are constant, irregular, and 
accidental elements. Those elements are constant 
which exert a regular power or influence for con- 
siderable periods, or during the whole of life. In the 
original character of an individual they will be such 
qualities as impulsiveness, optimism, pessimism, re- 
serve, timidity, sulkiness, and so on. Amongst influ- 
ences there will be : food, exercise, light and darkness, 
social life, and others. 

Irregular elements will be those which occur more 
or less frequently, but at uncertain and often lengthy 
intervals. In the individuality of a person there may 
be involved elements which cause occasional periods of 
intense dulness or gaiety, hope or despondency, and the 
like. Among the experiences there are : occasional spells 
of foreign travel, indulgence in special pleasures, sick- 
ness, notable success, disheartening failure, and so on. 

Accidental elements are those which seem never to 
repeat themselves, or, at most, to do so after excep- 
tionally long intervals. Such are: slips into violent 
impatience of those who have exceptional patience as a 
rule, great excitement at some critical moment in a 
characteristically phlegmatic person, and the like, with 
regard to individuality ; and, a very serious accident, a 
complete loss of fortune, the death of a particularly dear 
friend, and the like, amongst experiences. 

All the above exert special influences, either favour- 



MENTAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT -441 

able or adverse, upon the development of an individual. 
The constant, and irregular have varying but consider- 
able effect because of their repetition. The accidental 
frequently bring about very definite results, on account 
of their impressiveness and rareness. 

Every single power and experience has, of course, its 
share, however small, in determining the general line 
of development. But very many are so slight in them- 
selves and so sub-conscious in their effects that we can 
practically afford to neglect them. As a matter of fact, 
however, they are important in that they form a kind 
of background which throws into more striking relief 
the definitely significant elements. 

Another point which demands attention is the fact 
that only at certain periods of life is the individual 
directly determined to any considerable extent by 
general influences. After a certain time he is only 
indirectly determined by these, the direct and most 
powerful influence being that of the more or less 
developed self. It is during infancy that most is 
directly done by external influences. These gradually 
have less and less direct effect, and more and more 
indirect effect, through the reason. 

Determinants may be classified also as formative and 
directive. Those determinants are formative which 
supply nourishment to the self. They may be either 
external or internal. All kinds of physical materials, 
sensations, percepts, and general experiences, which go 
to supply the elements of the bodily, mental, and 
moral powers, make up the external group. The 
internal will include what may be spoken of as all the 



442 EDUCATION 

purely self-given elements. Just as the body, though 
dependent upon the nourishment which it receives from 
outside itself, may be rightly said to give to such 
material much of its final nutritive value, so the mind 
puts into its nourishment (in new forms) much of the 
goodness of it. 

Directive determinants include those elements of 
influence which result from the methods, whether 
implicit or explicit, involved in the efforts to secure 
development. If, for example, logical and scientific 
methods are uniformly involved in the organising of 
the influences brought to bear upon an individual, they 
will, in course of time, produce similar methods in the 
activities of the developing organism. These will in 
time become habits, and in such form they will have a 
permanent and powerful influence in determining the 
nature of the development. The waut of good methods 
will certainly be more or less unfavourable to the best 
form of development. 

Good directive determinants add skill, and, therefore, 
power to the activities of the self. They make easier 
and more effective the necessary self-efforts of the 
individual. Whilst not in themselves directly adding 
to the substance, so to speak, of mind, they indirectly 
assist in its growth, by perfecting the effectiveness of 
the activities concerned in it. There should, therefore, 
be constant effort to secure them. 

From another point of view all determinants may be 
divided into involuntary and voluntary. The involun- 
tary are those which are due to what we may call the 
inevitable minimum of organic activity necessary to the 



MENTAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 443 

being and existence of an organism, as such. This is 
due to an inexplicable element — an unknown quantity 
— which we term vital force. So far, therefore, as the 
inevitable activities of organisms other than the self 
must inevitably affect the self, in so far we look upon 
such determination as involuntary. There are the com- 
pelling influences of what we call the force of circum- 
stances, over which, we say, we have no control. 

But when the equally inexplicable individuality of 
the human being has taken definite form, and begins 
to assert itself, then we have voluntary determinants. 
By voluntary determinants then we mean the self- 
determination of the self. The individual develops a 
power of initiation, and becomes aggressive, in respect 
to his own development. A man, as we say, seeks his 
own good in his own way. More will be said of this a 
few pages on. 

In organising the conditions for making certain 
determinants most effective in their form and function 
care must be taken that there is plenty of time for the 
complete reception, assimilation, and organisation of the 
elements which are to constitute the determinant. 
For example, if it is desired that truthfulness should 
control the speech and thought of an individual, it 
must not be expected that one or two exhortations or 
corrections will be sufficient to establish such a deter- 
minant. 

There must be the careful and repeated demonstra- 
tion of what truthfulness and untruthfulness involve in 
themselves and their effects, from the practical point of 
view at first. Then there must follow proper opportu- 



444 EDUCATION 

nities for practising truthfulness under reasonable tests. 
This should continue until truthfulness is a habit. 
Then there may be an exposition of the higher nature 
of the virtue and its place and function in an ethical 
system. Thus it may be developed to its highest 
powers as a determinant. 

Original Character of the Human Being. — In this there 
are obviously two elements : the racial and the indivi- 
dual. Both of these require to be intelligently under- 
stood and definitely provided for in all the essential 
educational processes. To be too much taken up with 
either the one element or the other, to the practical 
neglect or omission of either, must involve more or less 
mischievous results. 

Were it not the case that every human being 
possesses substantial and permanent general resem- 
blances, we could not even know the human being as a 
type, genus, or class. On the other hand, if there were 
not also substantial and permanent individual differences 
we could not know one species, or smaller class, of men 
from others, or one individual from another in the same 
species. The fact that we do know them in the senses 
suggested is sufficient evidence that there exist such 
invariable common qualities, and such varying indivi- 
dual ones. 

White men, black men, yellow men, and red men, 
are all animals, however much or little this element 
may be restrained and refined in them, and they are all 
rational, no matter to what extent, large or small, this 
quality has been developed. Civilisation is a matter of 
degree and not of fundamental difference. It has been 



MENTAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 445 

forcibly said that one has but to scratch a civilised 
person to find the savage in him. 

Racial Elements — Man from the racial point of view 
is a rational animal. His rationality and animality are, 
so far as we know, absolutely inseparable, but the 
nature of each is perfectly distinct and characteristic. 
This difference is summed up in the distinction between 
mind and matter — a philosophical and profound ques- 
tion into which we have no need to go since we are only 
concerned with the empirical aspects of scientific 
knowledge. 

Each of these factors — mind and body — have their 
own special and characteristic place and functions in the 
general problem. Each brings a certain total of 
practically invariable powers and processes to take part 
in the general working of the human being as an organ- 
ism. The mind, through its powers of intellectual 
assimilation and discrimination, and their various forms, 
not only interprets the world for the individual as a 
whole, but, in so doing, also enables the body to secure 
the most favourable conditions for itself. The body by 
its powers of physical assimilation of different kinds, 
brings the mind into communication with the outer 
world, and so makes it possible for the mind to obtain 
the best conditions for its growth and development. It 
does this chiefly through its powers of receiving all 
kinds of sense-impressions, and also through its power 
of locomotion. 

At any one period in the history of a race it may 
be said to have certain general characteristics which 
are the results of its previous history. This will not 



44 G EDUCATION 

involve very much with regard to the race as a whole, 
because of the very numerous and important variations 
in the rate of civilisation of the different branches of the 
human family. For example, so far as is known, every 
branch of the race has employed, to a greater or lesser 
extent, fire as. a means of cooking food. Man might, 
therefore, be clearly distinguished from other animals 
by being termed a food-cooking animal. 

With respect to certain sections of mankind, especially 
the more civilised peoples, there are many common 
qualities possessed by the individuals composing them. 
For example, we may mention : forms of government, 
systems of industry and trade, social forms and cere- 
monies and the like. All such have had very consider- 
able effects in moulding individuals to a common type, 
within certain limits. 

A given group of human beings may, therefore, be 
regarded as haviug common resemblances very much in 
excess of what the whole race has. So that whilst a 
system of developing conditions could be devised which 
would be suitable for all mankind up to a certain point, 
any attempt to go further with such a scheme would 
break down because of the common resemblances 
ceasing there. 

But a scheme could be formed which would go very 
much further with all the nations of Western Europe, 
but only up to the point where common characteristics 
prevailed. Again a common plan would hold up to a 
still higher point for each separate nation ; and even 
to a more advanced one for distinct groups within a 
nation — as to special subjects and purposes. Wherever 



MENTAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 44? 

similarities of characteristics prevail there, obviously, 
common conditions for development are favourable, 
with regard to such like qualities and up to, at least, 
an average development of them. 

In all ordinary matters, all ordinary human beings 
can attain to an average standard of power and skill. 
The great majority of people are always approximating 
to such a level. There are comparatively few who 
either very much exceed, or fall short of, this. Not 
only are we all very human, but we are most of us very 
averagely human. Fortunately this average is not a 
fixed quantity, as the progress of a race from savagery 
to civilisation shows. 

To put the matter briefly : every class of objects has 
its inevitable and permanent minimum of characteristics 
common to its members and marking them off from 
every other class. It is only thus that we can know 
classes, and it is as futile to ignore this as it would be 
to neglect the individual differences. The essential 
resemblances of violins to one another are as constant 
and as characteristic as their more or less superficial 
differences of material, form, and tone, from those of 
cornets, are unmistakable. 

In living organisms there has been a perpetual trans- 
mission from individual to individual of these common 
resemblances of nature and form, through all the ages. 
Not that either has remained absolutely constant, but the 
essential elements have never fundamentally changed. 
Heredity has not only thus continued the type, but has 
also continued those important differences which mark 
off the various races and distinct groups of men. 



448 EDUCATION 

All that lias been said with regard to the human 
being as a whole is peculiarly true of the mental 
activities of man. As Mr. Herbert Spencer remarks : 
" Some of the best illustrations of functional heredity- 
are furnished by the mental characteristics of the 
human race." . 

One interesting and important fact connected with 
heredity deserves special notice. Though heredity, as 
a rule, tends to hand on the general elements of pro- 
gress, yet it sometimes, so to put it, turns backward the 
stream of resemblance, and an individual comes into 
existence who is very closely alike to those of the 
same class in past times. This is known as a reversion 
to ancestral type. 

Individual Elements — We have previously remarked 
that there are, practically, infinite differences as well as 
infinite similarities amongst what we term classes of 
things, and throughout the universe. For us the 
similarities are of primary importance for they mean 
coherence, significance, system and knowledge ; whilst 
the infinite differences could, by themselves, only cause 
chaos in the mental world. Of course absolutely infinite 
similarity could mean nothing more than " a some- 
thing" to us, for the element of relativity would be 
absent. Similarity and difference are absolutely neces- 
sary to each other so far as the constitution of our 
knowledge of the world is concerned. 

It is doubtless true to say, even from the practical 
point of view, that no two things have ever been, or 
are likely to be, found absolutely and entirely similar. 
It might be thought that two straight lines of equal 



MENTAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 449 

length and thickness would satisfy the conditions. 
But a microscope would show that the inevitable irregu- 
larity of the sides of such lines would not exactly coin- 
cide. If this be true of form how much more likely is 
it to be so of content. 

We may take it, therefore, that every distinct and 
separate m ember of a class is, from the very beginning 
of its existence, more or less different from every other 
member. It starts, so to say, with an element of bias, 
which will cause it to deviate, to a greater or lesser extent, 
from the common course, whilst generally conforming 
therewith. A totality so infinitely complex as a human 
being is more liable to such variations than almost any 
other whole in the universe. This is the source and 
substance of individuality ; which may be said to con- 
sist in special forms, or combinations, of ordinary 
attributes. 

A good illustration of what is here meant is afforded 
by the making of violins. Two violins may be made 
from a single piece of wood which seems in all respects 
to be uniform throughout. The same person makes 
both, and takes every pains and means to produce 
every detail in both instruments as exactly similar to 
each other as he possibly can. And yet the invariable 
result would be that a difference of tone, often a very 
great one, will be found between the two. 

Such a fact is really a mystery to us. We can only 
say that it appears to be inevitable. Dr. Hoffding 
says : " The inner unity, to which all elements refer, 
and by virtue of which the individuality is a psychical 
individuality, remains for us an eternal riddle." But 

2 F 



450 EDUCATION 

though in itself it is unexplainable, yet we can point 
out ways iu which it is emphasised and developed. 

Heredity appears to affect individuality as well as 
type. If a parent has well marked peculiarities, 
whether physical or mental, or both, there is almost 
sure to be a predisposition in an offspring to develop 
similar peculiarities. It was formerly thought that 
such attributes were inevitably handed on, as positive 
possessions, to the next generation. But this theory is 
now regarded as untenable, and it is held that there is 
nothing more than a tendency to develop such qualities. 
If the conditions of life are favourable to their growth 
they will definitely appear; but under other circum- 
stances they may never take positive form. 

The great developing influence of individuality is, 
however, the reaction of the general organism itself to 
the influences which affect it. Just as with the two 
violins referred to above, though the same bow may be 
drawn across the strings by the same hand in a practi- 
cally identical manner, yet the responding tones are 
very different in special character though generally 
alike ; so influences which are practically identical pro- 
duce reactions in the human being, which though on 
the whole of a like character have elements of special 
difference. 

For example : a lecture, which to one person is inter- 
esting and instructive, is to another also inspiring ; and 
whilst it gives to both knowledge, it may arouse in 
only one of them an effort of self-endeavour, because of 
the element of difference in the total complex of the 
self. Herbart says: "The entire life, the whole 



MENTAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 451 

observation of mankind, proves that every one makes 
out of his experience and intercourse something answer- 
ing to himself — that he here works out the ideas and 
feelings he has brought with him." 

When hereditary tendencies are developed by favour- 
ing circumstances they emphasise individuality, and 
cause experiences to have a special effect, in addition to 
the ordinary results. This becomes cumulative, and in 
course of time it may even become the predominant 
feature in the influence of experiences. This is seen in 
the case of persons who are said to be eccentric. Their 
individuality has become so pronounced that it preju- 
dices the ordinary effects of experiences. 

Thus the original germ of individuality, if we may so 
call it, is in itself a means of furthering its own de- 
velopment. But with this, as with all other elements, 
there is an ordinary amount of development in the 
average person. As a rule each person has just enough 
individuality to mark him off clearly and distinctly 
from his fellows. Only comparatively few have such 
striking personalities as to stand out like solitary 
mountains in an otherwise gently undulating area. 
And, again, not very many are so wanting in special 
characteristics as to seem colourless. 

So far as it is valuable or expedient, to develop any or 
all of a person's peculiarities, as constituting his indivi- 
duality, it is quite clear that there must be special influ- 
ences brought to bear upon him, and special conditions 
favourable to his nature provided. Systems for further- 
ing development which suit another, therein fail to be 
suitable for him, so far as his individuality is concerned. 



452 EDUCATION 

It is, however, a first condition for the best develop- 
ment of individuality that all the ordinary common 
characteristics of the individual shall have been de- 
veloped to, at least, an average extent. There can be 
no more fatal mistake than to assume that any one 
power of mind, or body, can be brought to its most 
powerful and fullest state of development by receiving 
exclusive attention. This is impossible from the very 
nature of mind itself. To impoverish the many powers 
will finally result in destroying the support of the one, 
and will always more or less prejudice its soundness 
and thoroughness. 

Experiences. — Mind builds itself up from experiences, 
and these are, of course, provided by the surroundings. 
According as the individual is more or less limited to a 
definite environment, and this environment itself is of 
a more or less constant character, so will the effects of 
the surroundings upon the individual be more marked 
and definite. This is well seen in the cases of a typical 
rustic and a typical cockney, or in those of the book- 
worm and the man of affairs. 

From what has been said about individuality it will be 
seen that the same environment will have different, as 
well as similar, effects upon various individuals. We 
must, therefore, consider not only the nature and 
influence of the environment as a whole, but also the 
special classes of stimuli which are found in it, and 
their influences upon individuals. We will proceed, 
therefore, to discuss the subject under the heads of 
environment and stimuli. 

1. Environment.- -The general surroundings of man 



MENTAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 453 

may be divided into the physical, social, and purely 
rational. The physical will include all those concretes 
which we usually call natural objects, and all those 
activities which we call physical. In the social environ- 
ment will be all those influences which arise out of 
the family life, companionship, national life, local and 
central government, sports and pastimes, and the like, 
in a practical sense. Purely rational environment will 
embrace all those influences which act through the 
intelligence only, such as general and scientific litera- 
ture, periodicals, systems of what is called higher 
education, and all study of the pure sciences, philosophy, 
and metaphysics. 

Physical environment acts most directly and pre- 
dominantly through climatic and other such physical 
influences. Upon these depend to a large extent the 
more general modifications of the physiological powers 
and parts. Thus the inhabitant of Central Africa is 
more fitted to resist those effects of heat which would 
probably prove very disastrous to an Esquimaux; whilst 
the Esquimaux can endure extremes of cold which would 
doubtless prove fatal to the Central African. 

Then again, the body has acquired special power in 
assimilating those foods which are best suited to the 
climatic conditions of a locality. The dweller in the 
Arctic regions lives largely on blubber, and regards a 
tallow candle as a perfect luxury in diet, whilst the 
inhabitant of tropical countries can be perfectly happy 
on an almost exclusively rice diet, with ripe fruit as a 
relish. Thus the former is best fitted to survive rigorous 
cold, and the latter intense heat. 



454 EDUCATION 

All such circumstances have a very direct and general 
effect upon the mind. Their results are general, 
specific, and individual. The fact that men have to meet 
and provide against the undesirable effects of climate, 
brings out the powers of the mind in devising more or 
less ingenious and complex ways of doing so. Habita- 
tions, dress, diet, and so on, are adapted to meet the 
necessities of the cases. So far similar kinds, but not 
details, of effects are produced universally. 

Specific effects are produced in the special lines of 
thought and action which have to be taken in dealing 
with the particular kinds of climatic and other 
geographical conditions. Because of this, the modes of 
thought of a Mexican would differ very considerably, as 
to the practical point of view, from that of a Patagonian. 
The local colour, so to speak, would be very marked. 
The individual effects would be due to the fact that each 
person would respond to the influences in a manner 
more or less different from that of his fellows, according 
to the strength of his individuality, in the sense already 
discussed. 

To put the matter in another way, all mankind will 
be alike in that they have to adapt themselves to their 
environment. All Europeans will be alike in so far as 
they have to meet generally similar conditions of 
surroundings, but different from Asiatics so far as the 
conditions are different. All the individuals of a 
European country will be alike, inasmuch as the general 
environment is common, and different from those of all 
other countries as far as these differ. Similarly, each 
person in distinct groups of individuals in a country 



MENTAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 455 

will agree with each other, and differ from those of 
other groups. Individuals will vary from each other 
according to the foregoing, and, in so far as they react 
differently upon the influences which affect them, 
because of their individuality. 

Hygienic conditions, as involved in the physical 
environment, are of the very highest importance. Good 
hygienic conditions represent the most perfect practical 
forms of natural surroundings. They are, therefore, of 
very great and direct physiological value, and of equally 
considerable and indirect psychological worth. 

Of the actual way in which the physical environment 
acts upon the body, and therefore upon the mind, the 
different physical and mental sciences give us more or 
less complete information. It is only as we know these 
that we are able to most effectively organise the action 
of physical influences. 

Dr. Karl Lange says : " It is not a matter of indiffer- 
ence whether we passed our youth in a quiet, retired 
forest-village, or in a dark, damp dwelling in the 
turmoil of the metropolis. It is not the same whether 
we played before the door of a lonely hut on the heath, 
or whether mighty mountain giants looked in at us 

through the window early and late Different in 

many respects are the thoughts and feelings of the 
child from the metropolis and the child from the 
village or country town." 

The social environment acts in a similar way to the 
physical, and, therefore, we need only point out the 
principal elements of it. It affects both the physical 
and rational sides of man's nature, in a practical and 



456 EDUCATION 

direct manner. The necessities of social life con- 
siderably modify both the physical and rational life. 
Manners and customs very largely control our modes of 
action, dress, and thought. 

Though manners and customs had, in most cases, an 
original appropriateness for the actual conditions of life, 
they often survive their fitness and become obstacles 
and hindrances to development, if not positively mis- 
chievous and destructive. It is, therefore, very needful 
that the individual should resist such as cause too great 
friction, or the sacrifice of other and more valuable forms 
of activity. 

So far, however, as social environment practically 
expresses the collective life, thought, tastes, and general 
development of a community, its influence upon the 
individual is most advantageous, in that it is a ready 
and generally pleasant means of raising him to the 
general level. From this point of view the social 
surroundings have very considerable and valuable effects 
in promoting development. It constitutes the general 
effect of the social environment. 

The specific results are seen in those social character- 
istics which distinguish one nation from another, and 
different national groups from each other. There is 
no difficulty in distinguishing the typical Frenchman, 
Italian, German, American, and Englishman, from each 
other, so far as their social qualities are concerned. 
Again, those who live lives of leisure, professional work, 
business, or manual labour, are easily known from each 
other by the effects which their various social surround- 
ings have upon them. 



MENTAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 457 

In the same way those who move constantly in 
academic, artistic, literary, or musical circles, have well- 
marked characteristics of thought and action. Children 
of educated and refined parents are easily distinguished 
from those of the uneducated and unrefined. All social 
groups in fact, exert a special influence upon their 
members, and this is shown in characteristic traits. 
These are the specific effects of the social environ- 
ment. 

The elements of special difference between such 
groups is shown by the ways in which a legal matter 
appeals to the lawyer and the man in the street ; or the 
attitudes of mind of the clergyman, the lawyer, and the 
layman, towards church affairs. These differences 
depend upon what we have called " the mental local 
coloar" which results from particular and constant 
influences in an environment. 

Individual effects are of a similar nature, and proceed 
from causes similar to those which result from the 
physical environment. 

Theories of politics, government, law, crime, and the 
sciences of ethics and economics, all throw, indirectly, 
some light upon the nature and principles of social life 
and relations ; and it is to these that we must go for 
guidance in attempting to organise social influences as 
means of furthering development. Mr. Herbert Spencer 
has treated all social phenomena as constituting a de- 
partment of knowledge in his book on sociology. 

Of the action of the rational environment but little 
remains to be said. It includes all the mental results 
which arise from the study, only, of works on pure 



458 EDUCATION 

science, and general literary works. The general effect 
is to give what may be called intellectual tone. This 
may be illustrated by comparing, what would be likely 
to be, the intellectual tone of those who constantly read 
the writings of Shakespeare, Addison, and the other great 
English writers, with that of those who read little else 
than police court news and " penny dreadful " novelettes. 
Or, we may compare the effects of hearing ordinary 
music-hall songs with that produced by listening to 
able renderings of Beethoven's sonatas. 

The specific effects will be seen in those who confine 
themselves to a purely scientific, or a purely literary, 
course of study : to natural, mental, or mathematical 
science : to poetry or prose : to classics or modern 
languages : to history or theology : and so on. The 
individual effects would be on lines similar to those in 
the other cases. 

In the highest sense, it is the rational self which is 
the great determinant of self in all its forms ; for the 
ideals which the reason itself sets up mould and govern 
all the thoughts and actions to definite purposes. So 
far as there is a fixed and dominating ideal, which an 
individual consistently strives after, this must obviously 
determine what manner of man he will be, at least within 
the possibilities of later life. 

We may say, therefore, that mind makes its own 
immediate rational environment in later life ; and that 
it has, therefore, the most definite and extensive influ- 
ence upon itself. The nearest approach to this is the 
influence of other minds upon an individual, as shown 
by the effects of close companionship. One of the most 



MENTAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 459 

definite and powerful of these influences should be that 
of the educator. 

But such an influence of the higher self upon the 
whole self assumes a permanent and powerful form of 
the rational self. Such a form is the outcome of the 
original powers of the individual and of the formation 
of mental and physical habits. As we have seen, habits 
represent the positive and permanent achievements in 
development, and are the corner-stones of further pro- 
gress. Habits, therefore, may be regarded as the chief 
factors in the self-determination of development; for 
the chief element of fixedness and power in the self is 
that supplied by habits. 

Self-determination of the self is also the most constant 
of all determinants when once the rational self has taken 
definite form. It is, as a rule, only interrupted, or 
thrown off its balance, by those passing and infrequent 
intense states of tonic excitement or depression which 
come to most people some time or other in their lives. 

2. Stimuli.— These are simply the defiuite activities 
into which the environment and the self can be analysed. 
So far as we are here practically concerned with them, 
they must be such as have sufficient intensity to com- 
mand definite attention from the individual as a whole. 
All that has gone before has dealt, more or less directly, 
with the nature and effects of the various forms of 
stimuli. Only one or two points need, therefore, be 
noticed here. 

Owing to the reflective powers of mind it is able to 
stimulate itself, and is, indeed, its own most potent stimu- 
lator. Mental stimuli consist in the activities of willing 



460 EDUCATION 

due to knowledge and designed to further it. The will 
stimulates the mind, and causes concepts, judgments, 
and reasonings to be represented, and still further 
analysed and' synthesised. Since such stimuli are 
purely rational they have a kind of concentrated effect 
upon mind ; for the purely mental has most significance 
and value for, and, on that account, the most effect on, 
mind. 

Nest to such direct influence of a mind upon itself is 
the indirect influence of other minds upon it through 
spoken, written, or gesture language. The last of these 
is meant to include actions generally, which, as we say, 
sometimes speak more than words. Practically all 
actions of others convey some meaning to the individual 
who attends to them. 

According to the powers and skill of the individual, 
and the appropriateness and the fulness of the stimuli, 
will be the actual benefit that is obtained from the 
latter ; and this will largely decide whether or not 
certain stimuli will become real mental determinants. 



CHAPTER XI 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION — (continued) 

Some very valuable principles, both from the theoretical 
and practical points of view, follow from what has been 
said in the last chapter. It is there pointed out, that 
men are, practically, infinitely like to, and different 
from, each other. The element of difference is at its 
minimum with regard to the most fundamental elements 
of human nature, and at its maximum in that which 
makes up the individuality of a person. The likeness 
is at its greatest with respect to those elements of form 
and function, which mark off the great natural orders 
from each other. It gets less, though still the pre- 
dominant feature, in each sub-order and species, in 
proportion as these are more or less narrow. 

Thus the great elemental attributes which distin- 
guish man, as man, from other beings are, practically, 
absolutely the same throughout creation. In other 
words, animality and rationality are in their ultimate 
meaning invariable. In this sense there is no difference 
between man and man, whether they be white, yellow, 
or black. 

But these three types of men have each their own 



462 EDUCATION 

common and invariable elements of likeness amongst 
their own members, and differences from the members 
of other types.- Thus the white (including the dark or 
swarthy) or wavy -haired type is distinguished by its 
colour, oval-shaped face, and the fact that a section of 
the hair is elliptical. The yellow or straight-haired 
type has its own colour, and a section of the hair is 
circular. The black or woolly-haired type is marked 
off by colour, hair, lips, and elongated skulls. Besides 
these quite distinctive general likenesses and unlike- 
nesses, there are many more characteristic simil-arities 
and dissimilarities between them. 

Again, there are many nations within each of these 
great groups, which have certain general resemblances 
and otherwise, as groups and as individuals. And so 
through all smaller groups such as tribes, highlanders, 
lowlanders, country-folk, town-folk, soldiers, sailors, 
teachers, pupils, schools, families and the like, elements 
of likeness and difference will be found ; the former 
decreasing, and the latter increasing, as the groups get 
smaller. When we come to individuals, as such, the 
elements of difference are, in rare cases, so numerous 
and pronounced, as to seem to almost cut them off from 
their fellows. Some eccentric geniuses are good ex- 
amples of this. But they always have all the common 
attributes, however strangely presented, of animality 
and rationality. 

Obviously such significant elements as these must be 
carefully provided for in any system for securing proper 
development. Hence we must carefully consider what 
we shall term the principles of collectivism and in- 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 463 

clividualism in education. The former takes account of 
the common points of likeness in a group, however 
large or small, and the latter is concerned with elements 
of difference amongst individuals. 

The Principle of Collectivism. — It is well to remind 
ourselves that the common points of likeness among 
things are, at least in the first instance, of most impor- 
tance for us. It is the realisation of these which makes 
knowledge possible. When we have secured a good 
basis of knowledge about similarities, then a grasp of 
the elements of difference is vital to progress and pro- 
foundness. Of course, the element of difference is 
always implicit from the first ; but it is likeness which 
is most significant at the beginnings o'f knowledge. 
This is true of the beginning of life, and, more or less, of 
all beginnings in new departments of knowledge. M. 
Perez, speaking of children, " from the age of fifteen 
months, and especially between twenty months and two 
years, " says that : " They are very little on the look-out 
for differences, although they are very much struck by 
them when they see them ; but everywhere they are on 
the look-out for resemblances. " 

The great truth involved in the above is this : not 
only can we, but we ought, and, indeed must, if we 
desire to secure the best development, submit each 
individual of a group to exactly similar influences, up 
to a certain point. This point is the limit to which 
we hold that the common attributes of the group extend, 
and the level to which the average individual can be 
developed in them. To neglect this truth must tend to 
break up the unity and community of social life, and to 



464 EDUCATION 

produce ill-balanced and exaggerated forms of mental 
development. To carry it too far would be likely to 
hinder progress by repressing individuality, and so to 
produce a tendency to stagnation and deterioration. 

The system of dealing with groups for educational 
purposes will, so long as the common likenesses in the 
groups are exhaustively dealt with, serve to maintain 
the elements of diversity between different groups, and 
so have a considerable effect in preserving a general 
kind of individuality, if the term may be allowed - — in 
the sense that Scotchmen, as a race, may be said to have 
a racial individuality. 

Hence the element of nationality in a system of 
education is hot only legitimate but necessary. Not 
that there should be any endeavour to Gry stall ise 
national traits, but that unless the qualities which are 
expressed in the national character are cultivated to a 
reasonable extent, an important part of the individual 
will be neglected. The aim should be so to develop 
such national traits that the individual may be able 
to rise superior to them. A reasonable cosmopolitan- 
ism represents a wider, deeper, and truer development 
of social ideas than nationalism. But the latter is 
most valuable as a. stepping-stone to the former. 

This point is well put by Dr. Karl Lauge. He 
urges that : " First of all, it is indeed clear that the 
matter to be taught must on the whole lie close to the 
child's experience. Since the latter has its root in the 
home soil, the material of the studies must be taken 
from the national treasures of knowledge, or at least 
stand in close relation to national interests, sentiments 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 465 

and ideas. It must, to be sure, be subject-matter that 
apparently transfers the child into unknown regions, 
but yet in reality leads it back to the realm of its most 
familiar ideas, its daily needs and experiences. Such a 
choice of subject-matter presupposes a thorough analysis 
of the sphere of national thought, an exact knowledge 
of the lasting and permanently valuable possessions of 
the national culture." 

But we must supplement, extend, interpret, correct 
and intensify, such elements through some knowledge 
of, and by intelligent comparison with, the culture of 
other nations. Just as we should, also, expand the 
experiences of rural life by a knowledge of those of town 
life, and conversely. 

So far, therefore, as education is held to be an 
essential part of the national life, a system of schools 
under the authority of the central government and 
subject to a similar minimum, not maximum, course of 
education, would appear to be a national necessity. One 
of the most important subjects of instruction, from this 
point of view, is that of what is commonly called 
citizenship. Dr. Rein says: "The schools should pre- 
serve and impart the inherited blessings of civilisation, 
those priceless treasures upon which thousands of years 
have laboured. They should strive to develop efficient 
members of society, that the people may never be 
lacking in national power." 

Again Dr. Rein urges that : " The state .... has the 
right to demand that education and instruction shall not 
be neglected, that the schools shall pursue no course 
hostile to its interests, and that they shall attain certain 

2.o 



466 EDUCATION 

results which are essential to its task. As regards the 
latter it should fix upon certain minimum aims to be 
attained by the various kinds of schools." This involves 
the question of the limits of state interference, but, 
if these be taken for granted, all would probably agree 
that Dr. Rein's views are correct. 

The above is, however, a political question, from the 
practical side, and is here used as an illustration and 
not as an argument. The general educational idea 
underlying it is that which is expressed in the term 
" the principle of collectivism." Seek to develop the 
greatest aggregate of powers as well the highest 
maximum in each, is the conclusion which is forced 
upon us by theory and practice ; and it is a particular 
application of this truth which we have been dealing 
with. 

An interesting point arises here in connection with 
the question whether girls and boys should receive the 
same course of education. So far as the foregoing is 
accepted as sound, the conclusion is obvious. To the 
extent to which girls and boys can rightly be regarded 
as forming but one group with regard to certain 
common qualities, to that extent both should undergo 
an exactly similar course of education. And this 
should be continued so long as the conditions hold. 

But whenever, and in whatever respect, the difference 
of sex requires educational conditions which conflict 
with one another, then, and therefore, girls must form 
one group, and boys another, for educational purposes. 
It is a case in which what we may term the class- 
individuality must receive its proper attention. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 467 

Whether or no there ever really is such a ground of 
educational, division between girls and boys during that 
part of their lives which is ordinarily given up to school 
work, is a question which lies outside our present 
province. One point may, however, be submitted for 
consideration. So far as education proper is concerned, 
the specific training of girls for domestic work is as 
much a matter for technical instruction, as against pure 
education, as teaching boys those trades which will fit 
them to be bread-winners. From the point of view of 
physical, and also mental, education, however, the 
general principles of both kinds of work can be advan- 
tageously made use of in ordinary education. 

Let us consider a few of the ways in which the de- 
tails of principle of collectivism in education are forced 
upon us by circumstances, and demanded by the con- 
ditions of life. 

In the first place, so far as the life of the present 
day is concerned, the social organisation more or less 
compels many elements of collectivism. One of the 
first and chiefest of practical necessities is the fitting 
in of the individual life with the common whole. This 
can be harmoniously and thoroughly done only when 
there is a general bond of likeness between the one and 
the many. 

The social life as a whole may be regarded as not 
only demanding so much uniformity from the individual 
as is necessary for reasonable union, but actually en- 
forcing it. Habits, customs, and laws which society 
has formed and observes have their inevitable effect in 
moulding the individual more or less perfectly to the 



468 EDUCATION 

common type. Dr. C. A. McMurry has well said 
that: "No narrow, one-sided culture will ever equip 
a child to act a just part in the complex social, 
political, and industrial society of our time " (General 
Method). 

Again the actually existing stores of accessible know- 
ledge, and the general level of acquirement, in the 
community, will largely determine the nature and 
extent of the system, and its details, adopted for educa- 
tional purposes. Since even pure education must at 
least take account of the need of so developing a person 
that he will be able to readily adapt himself to his 
surroundings, it must always use the materials which 
practical life offers, and so use them that a reasonable 
mastery is obtained. Progress from the more known to 
the less known must always involve very great depen- 
dence on the concrete and rational surroundings. 

Before and beyond all, from a practical point of view, 
in its insistence upon collective education, is the element 
of economy. It is absolutely impossible to provide a 
separate teacher for every separate pupil. The prepa- 
ration of teachers, in any general organised system of 
teaching, also demands the same kind of economy. 
But it may be remarked, in passing, that if this idea of 
economy is carried too far it soon results in mischievous 
waste. A teacher with too many scholars means many 
scholars with too little teaching. 

Then there are the inevitable effects which those 
influences which are exactly similar, for all practical 
purposes, must have upon minds which are, as mental 
organisms, likewise similar. For example, a rose and a 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 469 

daisy have, respectively, exactly similar effects upon, and 
are distinguished from each other in the same general 
sense by, every rational being who properly uses his senses 
and judgments with regard to them. This is essential ; 
for, were it not so, it would be impossible for us to com- 
municate with each other about these two flowers in any 
intelligible manner. Thus the uniformity of the actions 
and influences of things upon mind, and the uniformity 
of the reactions of minds to similar stimuli compel a 
like constitution and development of minds, with the 
same general environment, to a certain extent. 

Next we may see in what ways the principle of 
collectivism is realised in education. In the first place 
there is the fact that a single educator can deal with a 
group of individuals. How large this group may be 
will depend upon a great many practical elements, and 
can only be decided by the results of a good deal of 
experience. It is a question which belongs to the art 
of education. From the theoretical side it is necessary 
that the group should be composed of individuals with 
as many general resemblances as possible ; and, in fact, 
with respect to the subjects used for educational pur- 
poses, and the extent to which they are taught, the 
members of the group should be very closely similar 
to each other. 

It follows also that a common curriculum may, and 
should, be used up to the extent that the average 
capacity of the group is found, or judged, to be equal 
to. How high this level is to be must be decided by 
the educator according to his knowledge and estimate 
of the powers of the individuals in the group. This is 



470 EDUCATION 

a matter winch demands very full knowledge, wide 
experience, and ripe judgment. There is of course a 
certain universal minimum for the averagely normal in- 
dividual and the extent of this is pretty generally agreed 
upon. But any given group needs to be dealt with on 
its own merits, for its average may possibly be con- 
siderably above or below this, as in the case, say, of a 
class consisting of those who have won, and are trying 
for other, special scholarships, and a class of the most 
backward and dull boys in a school. The standard of 
judgment will always be the general minimum for the 
averagely normal individual. 

The number of subjects included in a common 
curriculum will be such as are held to be neces- 
sary to influence the development of all the well- 
marked common mental characteristics. Speaking 
generally they will be those which affect the feeling, 
knowing, and willing powers, in all their definitely 
distinct manifestations. Music, art, sports, and games 
to develop the feelings ; history, tales of adventures, 
biographies, travels, novels, morals, and religion, to 
influence the sentiments ; geography, the arts, and 
the applied sciences to minister to the growth of prac- 
tical knowing; the pure and mental sciences to develop 
the purely rational ; and rules, duties, occupations, 
systematic work, and conditions involving general 
independence, to secure the advance of willing. These 
are the kinds of arrangements which have to be care- 
fully worked out in detail, according to the other 
educational principles. 

Still another way in which this principle is realised 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 471 

is in collective, or class, demonstration. On the 
assumption that the same illustrations, experiments, 
opportunities of observation, words, and the like, will 
appeal in similar ways to similar minds, the educator 
feels justified in conducting class demonstrations. In 
the same way, and on like grounds, it is held that a 
uniform series of mental and physical exercises will 
produce substantially similar effects upon the minds 
and bodies of a properly selected group of individuals. 

Finally, we will mention some of the effects of the 
principle of collectivism in education. Perhaps one of 
the most beneficial results is the development of the 
social sympathies. The influences which the many 
exert upon the one, and each upon all, are the very 
foundation elements of mutual consideration, compro- 
mise, disciplined co-operation, public opinion, toleration, 
common interests, the sense of corporate life, and the 
like, which form the links which bind together a com- 
munity. Hence we may regard these results as not 
only involving a very great development of the higher 
sentiments, but as also including the very best training 
for the wider social life of the whole community. 

This applies as much to the purely intellectual feel- 
ings as to the ethical. The love of knowledge for its 
own sake, the sense of the community of knowledge, 
intellectual tolerance, rational co-operation and sub- 
ordination, and so on, are all fostered by common 
mental experiences, aims, and acquirements. 

There is, too, a strong element of encouragement in 
collective education. The feeling that so many are all 
striving together for a like result is apt to give a sense 



472 EDUCATION 

of power, as though a mental difficulty which would 
defeat an individual cannot possibly resist the united 
efforts of a group. It is somewhat of an inspiration, 
which comes from the force of numbers. After the 
same manner a man, who is by himself a coward in the 
face of difficulty or danger, may be capable of facing 
serious risks as one of a group inspired by a common 
purpose. 

Emulation is aroused amongst the individuals in a 
group engaged on similar work. Up to a certain point 
this is undoubtedly an inevitable and wholesome fea- 
ture ; but beyond this it is distinctly mischievous, and 
may become a serious mental, physical, and moral 
danger. It may lead to too long and violent effort, 
resulting in a serious mental and physical breakdown 
through overwork ; and it is likely to give rise to 
personal jealousy, ill-feeling, enmity and conflict. 
More especially are these things likely to arise if the 
element of emulation is unwisely stimulated by artificial 
rewards. 

Unless groups are carefully selected, and even when 
they are, neiwous and timid individuals may suffer a 
good deal through being required to take a more or 
less public part in the common work. Such should be 
allowed some time to get used to their surroundings, 
and should be excused as much as possible of the more 
public elements. 

The very great extra force, and the specific advan- 
tages, which collective work may put into the deve- 
loping influences are well seen in the mental vigour, 
robustness, self-dependence, tolerance, and general tone 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 473 

of the average public schoolboy, as compared with the 
more quiet, refined, dependent, and often dogmatic, 
condition of mind of the ordinary boy when taught at 
home by a private tutor. Each doubtless gains much 
that the other loses, but the collective elements are 
certainly valuable and necessary. 

Collectivism in education, therefore, means much 
greater force, and new features, in many of the deve- 
loping influences, though less in others, whether these 
are, in themselves, either for good or evil. 

To whatever point, with respect to any given group, 
it is held that collective education can be profitably 
carried, for general purposes, in sO far specialisation of 
any kind is excluded. Every individual has more or 
less of every ordinary human power, and this justifies 
us in insisting that a certain amount of quite general 
education is an indispensable preliminary to special 
education. 

In most respects each person has an average amount 
of power and capacity, and may be said to be normal. 
In other instances every one is more or less below or 
above the average. Collectivism in education is there- 
fore the universal rule. It seeks to realise, in all, what 
Herbart calls the many-sidedness of interest, but it 
dees not exclude individuality. For, as Herbart him- 
self points out : " There are many individualities ; 
the idea of many-sidedness is but one. The former is 
contained in the latter collectively as the part in the 
whole. And the part can be measured by the whole ; 
it can also be enlarged to the whole." 

Specialisation must not be mistaken for individuali- 



474 EDUCATION 

sation. The former lias reference to the fact that 
every one is likely to take up some special kind of 
mental or physical work, whatever his characteristics 
may be, and will, therefore, need more or less special 
preparation for it ; whilst the latter refers to the culti- 
vation of a person's special powers quite apart from any 
particular work in which he may afterwards engage. 
When the two coincide, then the maximum result may 
be expected. 

The Average and the Normal. — A few words as to the 
difference between these two ideas may help to prevent 
confusion with regard to the principle of collectivism 
in education, in which both ideas are involved. 

The normal may be looked upon as a universal ideal 
average. As we have said, every ordinary individual, 
as a whole, approaches more or less closely to this, but 
not one actually coincides with it in any one respect, 
and much less in all points. Hence it is that whilst 
every ordinary individual can acquire a certain mini- 
mum of power and skill in all common human capaci- 
ties, yet it is necessary to form separate groups for 
different capacities so as to get the maximum of actual 
general development. 

Such groups must be dealt with not according to 
what is normal, but what is actual. In other words 
a practical average must be adopted. Average will 
then have its ordinary meaning, viz., that which is 
about half-way between the extremes. This assumes 
that we make a sort of quantitative estimate of the 
value of qualities. 

The idea of an average as a standard for educational 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 475 

purposes will be very misleading and mischievous, if it 
be not carefully remembered that the more widely the 
extremes are separated from each other, the less will 
such a standard be suitable for each individual in a 
group. It is from this point of view that it is urged 
that all the members of a group for educational pro- 
cesses should be as nearly as possible equal to each 
other in the power, or powers, needed for the educative 
influences which it is proposed to apply. 

Not less important is it that this standard should not 
in any way be regarded as a fixed one, so far as it 
concerns a given group. Very great care and skill will 
be required to determine what it should be at first, 
when a new group is formed ; and it will be quite as 
difficult to keep it in accord with the growing know- 
ledge and capacity of the average individual of the 
group. 

The great difference between the universal ideal 
normal, and the average of a group, is, of course, best 
seen in the case of two groups, one of which is made 
up of very dull pupils and the other of exceptionally 
bright ones. Both groups are considerably removed 
from the normal, and each has its own average. 

The Principle of Individualism. — To generally neglect 
the element of individuality in persons would be in 
effect to very much limit and repress the general pro- 
gress of the race. For it is chiefly to the new lines of 
thought and action which have been taken by persons 
of strong and well-developed individuality that many 
of the greatest steps of progress are due. Great leaders, 
thinkers, statesmen, scientists, and workers, have been 



476 ' EDUCATION 

men whose personalities have been exceptional, it may 
be to the extent of eccentricity, or even monomania. 

Nothing is so likely to be unprogressive as a tho- 
roughly homogeneous group. Although the conditions 
which result from the successful carrying out of the 
principle of collectivism in education are indispensable 
for sound progress, both general aud individual ; yet, 
in itself, the effort to secure uniformity is obviously 
opposed to very much progress, because the advance 
will have to be limited to the capacity of the average. 
On the other hand, if the ablest members of a group 
are aided and encouraged in developing their strong 
points to the greatest advantage, the final result may 
be a considerable intensifying and enriching of the 
general rational environment of the whole group. 

Whilst the sacrificing of the general welfare to a 
particular development is, finally, bad for even the 
special power, it is equally true that the reasonable 
farthering of individual powers tends to enrich the 
whole, both directly and indirectly. Directly because 
the extra nourishment and exercise must affect the 
whole mind to some extent ; and indirectly because of 
the reflective nature of mind. If great shrewdness is 
developed in a person with regard to a certain line of 
thought or action, it means that certain habits have 
been acquired which are sure to affect the whole mind, 
to a greater or lesser degree. 

If the development of a man's individuality be 
ignored, his greatest force and value is likely to be 
sacrificed. So long as the individuality is not vicious, 
it involves the greatest good that either its possessor 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 477 

himself or the community can obtain from his life. 
The whole world is out of joint to one who finds his 
keenest and most constant desires almost invariably 
neglected or repressed. The history of the struggle of 
those great men who, possessed of overwhelming desires 
to gratify the inclinations of their genius, have been 
compelled to engage in work entirely opposed to their 
nature supplies plenty of evidence of this. 

Every individual should be able, in the fullest 
and truest sense, to "live his own life," as we ex- 
press it. This does not exclude, but depends upon, a 
reasonable conformity with the common life. The idea 
of absolute independence would probably mean, when 
logically applied, a more or less rapid movement to 
savagery and the extinction of the race ; for each person 
would have to be able to supply all his own wants, and 
this would necessitate that they should be of the most 
primitive kind. Even if we assume that we could start 
by appropriating all the present possessions of the race, 
purely individual effort could no more maintain them 
than it could have produced them. 

Again, the most elementary forms of the conjugal and 
domestic states involve the common life, and the sacri- 
fice of these would certainly involve the extinction of 
the race. In any case it is obvious that whatever evils 
may arise from the collective life, the advantages of it 
are very extensive and definite. It is by united efforts 
that mankind has made the greatest progress. The 
most primitive as well as the most highly developed 
forms of humanity have the collective element in them. 
The greatest individualities have been the outcomes of 



478 ' EDUCATION 

the most civilised forms of collective life. It is worth 
while to emphasise and insist upon this mutual inter- 
dependence of the individual and the collective life, for 
there are many dangers attending the ignoring of it. 

How, then, can we secure the best conditions for 
developing the individuality of each person. Clearly 
the very first thing required, and the most difficult to 
acquire, is some knowledge of its nature in any 
given case. The difficulty lies in the fact that indi- 
viduality usually consists in a special intensity or 
tendency of ordinary mental powers, possessed by a 
particular person. There is no reason whatever to 
suppose that any person has got a power which is abso- 
lutely and fundamentally different from what is pos- 
sessed by others. Such a thing would imply a different 
kind of human being from those we know. 

To know the individuality of a person is, therefore, 
to know which of his particular mental powers have a 
special intensity or tendency (bias), and how these 
interact on each other and the whole mind. The body 
of a person has also individuality, as : in the appearance 
of the face : the gait : great swiftness of movement : 
delicacy of touch : capacity for particular games, sports 
and pastimes : and so on. These also involve special 
details of intensity and tendency, of certain features, 
and the resulting variety in the total complex. 

But such a knowledge can be gained only by well- 
informed, carefully trained, skilful scientific observers ; 
for a full recognition of all the psychological and physio- 
logical elements and details involved is necessary, before 
the particular differences can be discriminated. This 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 479 

is no case in which scientifically ignorant persons 
should rush in where wise men walk warily. 

All the conditions which were laid down as guarantees 
for accuracy in obtaining knowledge through communi- 
cation should be rigorously enforced. Not only is the 
problem a very difficult and delicate one with regard to 
the interests of the individual, but the elements are 
very complex and intricate. It requires great skill to 
be able to note what is in one's own mind, and very 
much more to judge by systematic observation of his 
actions and words of what is in another's. 

A very suggestive illustration of what is at issue is 
afforded by the relation of a doctor to his patient. 
The patient himself can give only a limited, and often 
very inaccurate, account of what his condition is. He 
judges wrongly of his own experiences, and often when 
he judges rightly he expresses himself wrongly, as 
every one does in dealing with what is technical and 
unfamiliar. 

As a rule a trained nurse can give a far more exact 
and extensive account of the physical coudition of a 
patient, at least in so far as scientific precision is con- 
cerned, than the patient himself. But the nurse has 
usually a comparatively limited knowledge ; and is far 
from discriminating all the common elements in the 
general condition, much less the peculiar and excep- 
tional. 

Perhaps the worst observer, for strictly scientific 
purposes, is a relative or friend who has no special 
knowledge and is much concerned about the patient. 
With keen attention such an one notices all that 



480 * EDUCATION 

appeals to hirn. But through ignorance and interest he 
will be likely to exaggerate what he supposes to be 
favourable symptoms, and minimise the unfavourable 
or otherwise. Again, those which he thus notes will 
probably be only superficial after all ; for the deeper 
and more significant symptoms usually require the 
skilled and instructed attention. 

Ordinary persons who only see the patient occa- 
sionally and for brief periods would, as a rule, be entirely 
useless so far as obtaining any trustworthy evidence 
from them is concerned. 

It is only the well-informed, thoroughly trained, 
experienced, skilful, scientific observation of the doctor 
himself that is able to discriminate the elements in- 
volved. His judgment and power of rightly relating 
what he observes can alone give a satisfactory basis for 
scientific treatment. And his observation is aided by 
all the mechanical appliances which knowledge and 
skill have discovered for giving precision, detail, and 
completeness of information. Not that he disregards 
the evidence which other persons can supply ; on the 
contrary he is glad to receive much of it ; but he treats 
it as that which, for the most part, can at best be only 
suggestive, and confirmatory of his own observation. 
Of course there are certain obvious symptoms, which 
any intelligent person can take account of, and some 
mechanical observations which they can make. 

Similarly with mental matters, it is only the technical 
expert who is really qualified to make scientifically 
trustworthy observations, to appreciate the significance 
of the knowledge thus gained, and to prescribe a 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 481 

suitable course of technical treatment. In other words, 
it is the educationist who is the only fit and proper 
person to deal authoritatively with the question of 
individuality for educational purposes. By an educa- 
tionist we mean one who has been trained in the 
practical knowledge of, and taught in the rational 
study of, the phenomena and laws which are dealt 
with in the science of education. 

The teacher can give valuable information up to a 
certain point as to the evidences which he has observed. 
By a teacher is meant one who is able to intelligently 
carry out the practical processes involved in an educa- 
tive course, but has not, necessarily, the deeper know- 
ledge of the educationist. 

Parents and others may have more or less observed 
children, and the results of their, observations may be 
of greater or lesser value; but they must always be 
received with the very greatest caution, and only 
accepted, except as suggestive of courses of inquiry and 
experiment, after the severest scientific criticism. But 
it is always worth while to collect as much of such 
evidence as possible for purposes of scientific investi- 
gations. 

There are several special dangers attending the 
study of individuals, more especially children, with 
respect to their individuality, which it may be helpful 
to mention. Forgetting the great basis of similarity 
which prevails, there may be a very one-sided and 
exaggerated view taken of what is involved in the 
total difference. If the attention is fixed too much on a 
particular element of difference, this may be thought to 

2 H- 



482 " EDUCATION 

affect every part of the whole. We may, so to put it, 
miss seeing the mountain through looking too closely at 
the mole-hill. 

The vagueness and indefiniteness of early ideas may 
easily appear as profundity and universality. An 
adult observer is very liable to read into certain thought 
forms of the child his own content of thought. If 
once a person gets the idea that there is a great deal 
behind the beginner's thought, he will very soon 
discover, at least to his own satisfaction, greater 
mysteries in the attempts at thought of the child, than 
in the most profound explicit reasonings of the philo- 
sopher. 

We ought not to expect to find wonders in the child's 
thoughts, but rather wonder that we find so much of 
ordinary content. The child is doubtless much more 
puzzled, and filled with what wonder it is capable of, by 
the want of clear meaning in its own thoughts, than the 
observer is by what he may suppose to be their fulness 
of meaning. If there be in the child's mind anything 
like what some enthusiastic seekers after the wonderful 
would have us believe, it must get surprisingly ignorant 
as it gets older. 

Language as used by beginners is often entirely 
misleading. Of course children are often unable to 
express their thoughts through want of a sufficient 
command of language ; but more often it is because the 
ideas themselves are vague, half-formed, or incoherent. 
Adults with a practically perfect command of language, 
often cannot express what first comes to them in a new 
department of knowledge, for similar reasons. Again, 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 483 

children often repeat words and phrases in unusual com- 
binations simply because they have, for some reason or 
other, associated and remembered odds and ends of 
sentences. 

Finally, it should be remembered that there is much 
of the child in the adult, and, therefore, the more fully 
we can know an adult, the better we shall be able to 
guide and check our observations of children. Much 
suggestion and guidance can also be obtained from the 
study of the most interesting history of primitive races ; 
for therein we see the childhood of mankind, which is 
one of the best introductions to a knowledge of the 
childhood of the individual. 

When we have obtained, through careful and con- 
siderable observation, experiment, and thought, what 
we believe to be a sound view of that which mainly 
constitutes the individuality of the learner, we shall 
have the fullest possible guide to the points of special 
treatment which will be required in his particular case. 
If a pupil be exceptionally phlegmatic or lively, 
imaginative or unimaginative, optimistic or pessimistic, 
prosaic or poetic, reflective or active, generous or selfish, 
scientific or artistic, and the like, we shall have to make 
use of the different educational principles, or different 
features of them, with varying fulness and force. 

An exact knowledge of the individuality of a person 
will enable the educator to use the various principles to 
the greatest effect. He will know how best to appeal 
to the individuality through the principle of interest, 
and will so obtain the further advantage of the maximum 
of self-activity. That which gives the greatest pleasure, 



484 ' EDUCATION" 

because it is most in harmony with the personality, can 
be wisely made use of, and thus the greatest amount of 
co-operation secured, through the principle of sympa- 
thetic control. It will be seen whether the concrete 
elements of knowledge must be specially insisted upon, 
to correct a tendency to hasty imagination, as in filling 
in the details of a percept by mental pictures ; or, on 
the other hand, if the imagination needs particular 
attention, so as to get the learner to see behind and 
beyond his own little world, as in picturing objects and 
scenes outside the range of actual experience. 

And so all the elements of various individualities can 
be related to the different educational principles. But 
it must always be understood that the general, or 
collective, elements in the individuality have been pro- 
vided for by the ordinary collective applications of these 
principles. It is only an extended and special applica- 
tion of them that we are now considering. 

By such a special adaptation of principles to persons 
we may hope to obtain the very highest values of indi- 
vidual development, and, through these, the greatest 
possible progress of the race. Not only, therefore, is 
the individual directly advantaged by this, but also the 
race ; and thus other individuals are indirectly advan- 
taoed. Progress is cumulative for one and all. Each 
is for all, and all for each. 

Such a knowledge of the individual as is required 
for the above cannot possibly be obtained from obser- 
vations confined to the schoolroom, where both the 
conduct of the child and the environment are so 
largely artificial. The educator must observe the 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 485 

child during its free and unconstrained play, in social 
intercourse, and under as many varying conditions as 
possible. He must also obtain as much reliable infor- 
mation as he can about the child from its parents, and 
others. 

Something must now be said as to the way in which 
this principle affects any general scheme of education. 
Its function is to secure the full and final value of the 
individual, and the way in which this may be realised 
must be indicated. 

However predominantly the individuality of a person 
may appear to belong to only one or two particular 
powers, it will be found, on careful observation and 
analysis, that it affects all ; and it is doubtless made up 
of a combination of details proceeding from all the 
powers, though manifesting itself chiefly through one or 
two. Hence a certain amount of individuality will 
probably have to be provided for, in every separate item 
of development. 

This will mean that whilst by far the greater part of 
all early education is collective, a small part will have 
to be individualistic. In other words, each individual 
in a group must receive some small amount of personal 
help even with respect to the processes and products of 
collective education. This will be necessary throughout 
the collective course. Hence, class-demonstrations will 
be followed, as far as possible, by individual testing and 
such additional personal help as is shown to be required. 
Class exercises will give many opportunities for indi- 
vidual attention. 

It will be seen that the above has a very important 



486 EDUCATION 

bearing upon the actual size of a group for educational 
work. It should never be so large that a reasonable 
amount of individual teaching is impossible ; for, if it 
be, there must result a very large sacrifice of individual 
and general progress. 

But by far the most important point connected with 
the principle of individualism is that of specialisation. 
The element of individuality demands specialisation. 
Because of a person's special characteristics he is most 
fitted for certain lines of development, and very unfitted 
for others. If, therefore, he is to fulfil his greatest 
possibilities these particular powers must receive 
special attention. 

Dr. Hertel has drawn attention to a very essential 
consideration in the following passage : " It is hardly 
fair, on the part of school teachers, to claim of the child 
an exclusive right to his time. There is much which 
he ought to learn beyond what the school imposes on 
him ; if he has any special talent or tastes — music or 
drawing, for example— he should have time at his own 
disposal in which to cultivate them. He should be 
able to pursue privately any of his school studies which 
specially attract or interest him, and altogether have 
more opportunities of independent growth allowed 

him 

" Are there not many students who have so little 
knowledge of themselves, their own powers, tastes and 
inclinations, that it is a mere matter of chance what 
course of study they take up when they go to the 
university ? For this reason many a young man, after 
having wasted a year or two, often makes a complete 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 487 

change and begins upon a totally different career. 
Those wasted years might often have been saved had he 
had opportunities, while at school, of studying a little 
by himself, and thus of judging in what direction 
his talents and predilections lay " (Overpressure in 
Schools). 

The chief thing to decide with regard to this matter 
is the period at which the special attention should be 
given. Happily this may be regarded as practically 
determined by the individual himself. When the 
individuality of a person is definite and aggressive, 
then it should be attended to by the educator, or it 
will look after itself, and almost certainly prejudice, if 
not pervert, its development. 

Ordinarily, the individuality begins to assert itself 
about the middle of the third great stage of general 
development, when willing becomes predominant, and 
the individual becomes a law unto himself. We may 
say that, roughly, this is about the sixteenth or seven- 
teenth years. This, therefore, will as a rule be the 
time when it should begin to receive definite attention. 
That in to say, this is the period when specialisation 
should be considered ; but not, necessarily, begun, for 
something like a settled preference on the part of the 
individual should first be allowed to form itself. 

There should, by this time, be such a general de- 
velopment of mental powers and possessions that no 
danger of warping the individual is incurred. Herbart 
points out this danger. He says: "The individual 
grasps rightly what is natural to him, but the more he 
exclusively cultivates himself in this direction the more 



488 EDUCATION 

certainly does he falsify through his habitual frame of 
mind every other impression." Individuality ought, as 
a rule, to be so developed that it will be true to say 
of the person : he is good in most things, but specially 
strong in such-and-such. Thus the ideal in learning 
is to know something of everything, through types, 
and, so far as is possible, everything of something, 
through details. 

In those cases, however, where, as with precocious 
geniuses, the individuality is definitely and decidedly 
developed at a very early age, it should always receive 
proper attention. But very great care will be needed 
to guard against sacrificing the best development of the 
special power, through neglecting the general powers. 
A certain amount of restraint will, therefore, be neces- 
sary ; but this should never take the form of direct and 
positive repression, or the whole nature will suffer. 

Too much attention may easily be given to the 
element of individuality. It should be remembered that 
this is the strongest as well as the most active element in 
an individual. It, therefore, needs the least intensity 
of stimulus. Also it is always more or less active and 
insists upon being ministered to, for all ordinary ex- 
periences are received in such a way that they influence 
it, and it influences them. 

Dr. Karl Lange remarks : " We admit that very 
strong natures, which are distinguished by unusual 
inner activity, are accustomed to supply without the 
aid of others those apperceiving ideas which make 
possible the comprehension of a new object of study, 
since it is a fact that a genius even with bad instruc- 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 489 

tion, by his own powers, finds the right road to de- 
velopment." 

When education has secured a good basis for the 
special development of individuality and has helped it 
forward on the road to its fullest, most vigorous, and 
best form, the individual must do the rest. The edu- 
cation that has put the individual in possession of his 
best and truest self has, indeed, done its perfect work. 

The Principle of Proportion — What has just been said 
about the principles of collectivism and individualism 
in education emphasises an element which has been 
more or less explicit throughout the whole of the dis- 
cussions concerning the science, viz., that of the propor- 
tion of intensity, extensity, duration, frequency, and 
the like which should exist between various principles, 
so as to secure the most effective and desirable applica- 
tion of them. 

We must say, at once, that this is a most difficult 
and very far-reaching inquiry ; and the most we can 
do now is to suggest some of the considerations which 
will have to be taken into account. Not until our 
knowledge of the human being generally, and of the 
mental sciences in particular, is much more extensive 
and precise than it is at present, can we hope to be 
able to lay down anything approaching definite conclu- 
sions on the matter. 

At the same time, however, we can, from our present 
knowledge, learn how to avoid very exaggerated and 
mischievous forms of disproportion in the application of 
educational principles. What has been said about the 
order of development, the relative waxing and waning 



490 EDUCATION 

of predominance of the developing elements, and the 
periods during which these may be expected ordinarily 
to take place, ought to save us from serious errors, in 
this respect. 

One of the very first points to be considered will be 
the order and proportion in which we shall attempt to 
realise the discipline, culture, and utility values of 
educational material. At the very beginning of things 
it is certainly the utility value which must be predomi- 
nantly acquired, for the law of self-preservation is then- 
imperative. But very soon this must give way to the 
discipline value, for, if we are to have progress, we 
must have power and skill. 

Hardly less obvious is it that the culture value must 
come last in order of predominant development. If 
we accept Matthew Arnold's dictum that to have 
culture : " is to know the best that has been thought 
and said in the world;" or Professor Huxley's statement, 
that : " It is the criticism of life contained in litera- 
ture ; " then it is clear that not only does it demand 
the highest mental powers, but that some amount of 
leisure is also required for its fuller acquisition. 

Professor Huxley has well said that : " No man 
ever understood Shakespeare until he is old, though the 
youngest may admire him ; the reason being that he 
satisfies the artistic instinct of the youngest, and 
harmonises with the ripest and richest experience of 
the oldest." This also suggests the truth so often 
insisted upon, viz., that there is always a concurrent as 
well as a predominant development of the different 
elements. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 491 

Such considerations obviously go far to solve the 
problem of the place and the function of realism and 
humanism in education, or, to put it in concrete form, 
of practical science and literature in school work. 

Another point which soon forces itself upon the 
attention of the practical educator is, how much of the 
various knowledge-subjects should he attempt to im- 
part. Eousseau has well said : " Human intelligence 
has its limits. We can neither know everything, nor 
be thoroughly acquainted with the little that other men 

know The question is, not what may be known, 

but what will be of most use when it is known. From 
these few we must again deduct such as require ripeness 
of understanding and a knowledge of human relations 
which a child cannot possibly acquire." 

Understanding that the phrase " of most use," in the 
above passage, refers to both educational and practical 
utility, we may say that as much as can be received 
and retained, should be, so long as the vigour and 
freshness of the powers are not prejudiced. This 
brings us to the consideration of the relation between 
work and play. 

Professor Huxley insists on the great importance of 
mental relaxation, in the following words : " I have no 
compassion for sloth, but youth has more need for 
intellectual rest than age ; and the cheerfulness, the 
tenacity of purpose, and power of work which make 
many a successful man what he is, must often be placed 
to the credit not of his hours of industry, but to that of 
his hours of idleness, in boyhood. Even the hardest 
worker of us all, if he has to deal with anything above 



492 EDUCATION 

mere details, will do well, now and again, to let his 
brain lie fallow for a space. The next crop of thought 
will certainly be all the fuller in the ear and the weeds 
fewer." 

Again, he remarks : " Above all things, let my 
imaginary pupil have preserved the freshness and 
vigour of youth in his mind as well as his body. The 
educational abomination of desolation of the present 
day is the stimulation of young people to work at high 
pressure by incessant competitive examinations." 

To the same effect, Dr. Abbott observes that : " The 
intellect is like the body in requiring the alternation 
between wholesome strain and wholesome relaxation, if 
it is to become healthy and robust." Dr. Hertel, in his 
book on " Overpressure in Schools," says : " We must 
not lose sight of the fact that one long spell of work is 
far more exhausting to the child than the same number 
of hours would be if split up by a considerable 
interval." 

In connection with this point it is instructive to 
notice that in Germany, lectures at the universities are 
for forty-five minutes, and there is an interval of 
fifteen minutes between all lectures. At Oxford and 
Cambridge it is the rule to give the whole of every 
afternoon to sports. The greater the amount of controlled 
educational activity, the larger should be the amount of 
free recreative activity. Dr. Hertel informs us that 
when some of the Swedish High Schools applied for 
permission to extend the limits of continuous instruc- 
tion, for the live youngest classes in the schools, from 
two to three hours, the Government referred the 



GEJSERAL PRINCIPLES 493 

question to the Medical Society for an opinion. The 
following is a summary of their views : " Three hours' 
consecutive work is permissible if an interval of ten 
minutes be allowed for every hour, and one hour of the 
three set apart for easy work, such as singing, writing, 
or the like. After that there must be two hours' 
complete rest." 

As we have before urged, this is a question which 
demands very serious attention. The issues at stake 
are of the gravest kind. Health, happiness, and useful- 
ness in life may all be sacrificed by making a mistake 
in this matter. Nothing is so dangerous as an unin- 
formed zeal for what is popularly supposed to be educa- 
tion, viz., encyclopaedic instruction in words and 
formulas. 

Sir J. Crichton-Browne points out that: "There 
is no better preparation for a stormy life than a 
tranquil and happy childhood, and sound policy should 
guide us to postpone as long as possible the entrance of 
our children on that struggle in which so much is to be 

required of them Education without pressure — 

education in which hereditary restrictions, the laws of 
growth, the constitution of the organism, the vivifying 
power of happiness, and the paralysing effects of fear 
and rivalry are held constantly in view — may . . . 
brace and strengthen them to encounter without risk 
the trials that are in store for them " (Introduction to 
Dr. Hertel's book). 

Of the proportion which should exist between the 
principles of collectivism and individualism a good deal 
has been said. Herbart has the following- remarks on 



494 EDUCATION 

this matter : " Some steps must .... be taken to 
adjust individuality to character and many-sidedness 
The more individuality is blended with many- 
sidedness, the more easily will the character assert its 
sway over the individual." 

He points out the danger of undue attention to 
individual traits in these words : " By no means, 
however, should the presence of incidental prominent 
tendencies in the years of cultivation be regarded as a 
sign that they are to be further strengthened by educa- 
tion. This practice, which shelters disproportion, is 
devised by love of arbitrariness, and recommended by 
bad taste. Doubtless the lover of the bizarre and of 
caricature would rejoice to see, instead of many fully 
and proportionately developed men fit to move in rank 
and file, a crowd of humpbacks and cripples of all 
kinds, tumbling wildly over each other. But this is 
what happens where society is composed of men of 
widely different modes of thought ; each brags of 
his own individuality, and no one understands his 
fellows." 

To push the principle of individualism too far would 
not only imply the necessity of a special science of 
education for each human being — which is in itself 
sufficiently absurd — but also that each human being 
would form a different science of education for any one 
given individual — which is surely a "reductio ad 
absurdum." Equally unscientific is it to regard human 
beings as being as like to each other as though they 
were cast in a mechanical mould. 

The practical educator must avoid being too precise, 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 495 

or nice, about matters. The useful should come before 
the ornamental, and necessities before luxuries. Mr. 
Thring urges that : " A teacher must be content to 
omit much, and not be concerned about the glossiness 
of his work. The mind of a working, vigorous little 
boy is much like his clothes, very untidy, but very 
serviceable, entirely regardless of everything but the 
object at the moment. No doubt order and tidiness are 
part of the training ; but dress boots won't do for 
turnip fields, or mountains. Strength is needed first. 
Strong ideas are wanted, put forth by an unseen plan." 
But mountain boots should be of good material and 
specially well made. 

It is not the educator's duty to insist that every 
detail of development which has been mentioned shall 
be carefully elaborated in the case of every child. 
Each child will be likely to linger over some points 
through want of average ability in that particular, and 
will skip lightly over others because it has special 
power for such work. But the educator must be able 
to recognise where help is needed, and know how to 
give it in the best form. 

To put the principle in quite general terms, we may 
say that the principle of stimulation ought to procure 
energising without violence ; nourishment should pro- 
duce keenness and vigour, but never surfeit ; pleasure 
ought to satisfy but not corrupt ; pain should compel 
without cowing; interest should concentrate energy, 
not dissipate it ; habituation ought to secure regularity 
without automatism ; self-activity must bring about the 
progress of the ego without egotism ; collectivism should 



496 EDUCATION 

cultivate humanity but not neglect the man ; individ- 
ualism should provide for the man but not neglect the 
race ; development must attend to the details without 
omitting the whole ; gradation should secure simplicity 
but not make matters too easy ; symbolism should give 
expression and facility to thought without verbalism ; 
repetition ought to secure frequency whilst avoiding 
weariness ; sympathetic control must win without 
weakness or indulgence ; preparation should bring 
about adaptation without actual anticipation ; inter- 
relation and inter-dependence ought to unify but not 
make too much of the linking ; analysis and synthesis 
must give the units and unity of detail, but not over- 
whelm with them ; doing should secure precision and 
facility in action but avoid the mechanical ; and propor- 
tion must guide in all these. 

We want to help without creating dependence ; to 
increase refinement but preserve vigour ; to get delicacy 
and charm, but retain energy, force, and stamina ; to 
adorn the edifice with the highest and most graceful 
pinnacles, whilst keeping broad and sure the founda- 
tions ; and to secure the unity of the whole without 
uniformity in each. 

The Principle of Pleasure. — Something more may now 
be said about this principle. In so far as pleasure is 
the outcome of normal conditions acting upon a normal 
being, whenever we are able to secure the fullest and 
best realisation of educational principles we shall bring 
about a state of pleasure for the individual who is being 
educated. Hence, as we have constantly insisted, the 
surest and soundest way of securing the interested co- 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 497 

operation of the learner is to provide the most perfect 
conditions for learning. 

If the kind, quality, and quantity, of the developing 
influence be appropriate to the powers and possessions 
of the pupil, then it will be as pleasurable for him to 
receive an educative lesson as to eat a well-prepared 
meal when he is hungry. The former does for the 
mind what the latter does for the body, it supplies 
a natural want in the most agreeable and healthy 
manner. 

This condition of things is, probably, best realised 
through the observance of the educational maxim : from 
the known to the unknown. The quite ecstatic delight 
shown by the little people in kindergarten classes, when 
some familiar objects, such as tea-sets, are made use of — 
with as near an approach as possible to the actual con- 
ditions of ordinary life — for educational purposes, is 
really striking, and very pleasurable to see. 

Similarly older children take the greatest possible 
interest and delight in bringing small curiosities from 
their own homes when they are to be used as subjects 
for a lesson. There is little difficulty, and immense 
advantage, in getting boys to make simple apparatus, 
or to collect natural specimens, for science lessons. 

Again, the element of explicit co-operation in the 
educating process can be made both effective and inter- 
esting. To occasionally allow the pupils in the higher 
classes to put questions to each other, and to the 
teacher, about the subject matter of a lesson which has 
just been given is a means of realising this. Or, better 
still, to require — without undue pressure — that the 

2l , 



498 EDUCATION 

more advanced children shall, in turn, prepare and 
impart to the class some information about a given 
topic, which is well within their powers, will do much 
to develop both self-dependence and a truly pleasurable 
interest in the work of the school. 

One of the most fruitful sources of pleasure in educa- 
tion should aiise from the realising of the culture 
value of knowledge subjects. If what we have said 
about the highest type of mind being the most cultured 
be true, then in endeavouring to get the pupils to realise 
the culture elements of knowledge, weare helping them 
to obtain the highest, and, therefore, the most delightful 
mental values of things. 

In every department of school work, therefore, there 
should be an attempt to reach such a standard of 
excellence as will bring out, clearly and effectively, the 
aesthetic elements. In reading there should be such a 
standard of elocution and dramatic feeling — where 
fitting — as will give real pleasure to the hearers. 
Writing ought to have grace and proportion sufficient 
to definitely gratify the eye. Singing should be so 
well done that one half of a class could get real enjoy- 
ment from hearing the other half siug. Drawing and 
colouring ought to result in work that will adorn the 
school walls. Not that many will do such work, or 
much of it, but at least some should be obtained, and, 
what is still more important, a true appreciation of its 
merits and beauties by the scholars must be aroused. 
If this appreciation is secured, so also is the most happy 
and helpful stimulus to further production. 

In every branch of school work this pleasure-giving 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 499 

level of proficiency should be obtained, for the sake of 
its educational value as a stimulus and a satisfaction. 
Every pupil ought to be regarded as a possible little 
artist, in a very elementary way, with respect to the 
work he does. Not only is it one of the greatest of 
pleasures to give pleasure, but it is also one of the 
most stimulating results of work. The true artist pro- 
bably appreciates and enjoys the processes of good work 
even more than others delight in the products. 

But, of course, beginners must not be left entirely to 
the results of their own efforts for their supply of the 
pleasures which the aesthetic features of work can give. 
They should be enlightened and encouraged by models 
of design and finish ; and these should be systematically 
used to form their tastes, and to arouse their ambition. 
From this point of view, the furnishing of a schoolroom 
is as much a matter for the expert judgment of a 
scientific educationist as the formulating of a course of 
educative lessons. And a place should always be found 
for works of pure art, which, whilst appealing to youth- 
ful sympathies and powers, yet, because of their intrinsic 
beauty are silent voices that speak of higher things, and 
best tell their own tales. 

The principles of development and gradation are, 
when properly observed, very powerful agents of 
pleasure. They must be so applied that they make 
possible a sure and solid progress. If they do this, 
they will provide a constant source of pleasure to the 
learner. Nothing is more gratifying to old and young 
than the feeling of conquest and mastery. In educa 
tion, as in other things, nothing succeeds like success. 



500 EDUCATION 

Again, the principles of self-activity and doing are 
full of possibilities as pleasure-giving agents. Boys 
can, under capable tuition, be trained to be as active, 
purposeful, and skilful, in mental gymnastics as in 
physical. And they can derive as much pleasure from 
the one as from the other. To this end, pupils should 
play audience as little as possible in educational work. 
They should rather resemble a team of football players 
fighting under a skilful captain, and sharing both the 
work of conquest and the glory of victory. 

Learners should seldom be mere listeners, during the 
period of education proper. They ought more often to 
be in a state rather of aggressiveness than receptive- 
ness : telling than being told : discovering than hearing 
of discoveries : experimenting than seeing experiments : 
describing than defining, or listening to descriptions, and 
so on. And this if only because it is more agreeable to 
the nature of the child to be active rather than passive. 

But, besides all this, there should be in education, 
and for educational purposes, a supply of what we may 
call free pleasure, just as there should be periods of free 
recreation and play, though all educative work should 
be more or less recreative and playful. For, after all, 
the predominance of the serious side of true education 
can never be wholly ignored, and ought always to be 
clearly recognised and enforced. "Work must not be- 
come play, any more than play should be made a task. 

Free pleasure in education can be provided by making 
the school a centre of social life for the pupils. It may 
be made a type of human life in the little — a microcosm 
of humanity. This can be brought about in one direc- 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 501 

tion, through the systematic organisation of games. 
Cricket, football, tennis, and other games' clubs, at 
schools, have a direct and definite function in the 
general educational scheme. They develop many of 
the best ethical and social qualities, as well as arouse 
the interest and pride of the scholars in their school. 
" Floreat Etona " must mean " flourish my Eton," if it 
is to be really significant and sincere. 

There must also be an internal as well as an external 
social school-life. The school community should have 
its own little social functions. Receptions, at-homes, 
musical parties, dances, and the like, should be given 
by, and to, the members of the school, and, if con- 
venient, in the schoolroom itself. What this means to 
the school life as a whole, will be best appreciated by 
those who, as adults, have been taught at institutions 
where the social life has been well cared for. It imparts 
a vitality and meaning of an entirely new kind to the 
whole machinery. Not only the interests but the affec- 
tions are enlisted on behalf of the institution as a whole. 
A fuller and more significant life is realised in the pro- 
cess of work, and the feeling of " esprit de corps " is as 
inevitable as it is stimulative. School life becomes a 
member rather than a misfortune of the whole life. 

It is probably true to say that, in the interests of 
pure education, far too little is done to systematically 
develop the social graces in young people. Whilst 
" deportment " was formerly almost the only subject 
which received any considerable attention, in many 
schools, there now seems some danger that it is soon 
likely to be the only one which is entirely neglected. 



502 EDUCATION 

Let it not be forgotten that youth is the springtime 
of life, when showers do but minister to sunshine, and 
sunshine to showers. The early years should be full of 
the buds and blossoms of pleasure, and the joy of living. 
Is it not an outrage upon young humanity if the morbid- 
ness, disappointment, and pessimistic sourness of un- 
happy or unfortunate adults, be allowed to affect the few 
brief, bright years of innocent happiness which ought to 
be the privileged possession of the child ? 

If so, no one who feels life a burden, or thinks happi- 
ness a mistake, is fit to be an educator of the young. 
Hardly anything can be more adverse to a vigorous and 
healthy development in young children than the absence 
of brightness, cheerfulness, and even gaiety. The inevit- 
able suffering and sadness of life are more than enough 
as discipline for the little ones. The sunshine of cheer- 
fulness is as necessary for the development of the 
mental and moral powers, as are light and warmth for 
that of the physical nature. The educator must be the 
pupil's sun. 

Complete harmony between the self and the surround- 
ings, i.e., pleasure, must bring about the greatest and 
best development. A writer has put the matter very 
happily in the following passage, urging teachers to 
" till their rooms with perpetual sunshine. First, that 
outward sunshine which includes abundance of light 
and air, cheerful surroundings, tastefully decorated 
walls, and a generally attractive appearance. Then, 
more important still, the inward sunshine of their own 
good temper and happy, hopeful disposition ; of their 
habit of always looking on the bright side of everything 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 503 

and saying the kindest thing possible of every one. 
These may seem small things, but they will not prove 
so to the young child. He will find joy in the genial 
atmosphere of his school, and grow rapidly in all graces 
of mind and soul under the influence of its light and 
warmth " (Elementary Education, Kilburn Series). 

Those who have realised the spirit of kindergarten 
teaching know the truth of this ; and those who know 
it not, do not understand the kindergarten. 

Any means which makes for pleasure in the educa- 
tional system as a whole, or in any particular part of 
it, should be highly esteemed, as a means of vivifying 
and furthering the work of education ; and every effort 
should be made to practically realise the advantages of 
such powerful influences. 

The Principle of Inter relation and Inter-dependence.— 
The very great and fundamental importance of this 
principle demands that something more should be said 
about it, now that we have reviewed the general out- 
lines of the science, and have thus obtained a better 
opportunity for understanding the conditions which it 
must fulfil. We have constantly found it necessary to 
draw attention to the need of dependently relating 
the different educational influences, and principles, 
both as units and with respect to their details. Some 
further applications of this will now be dealt with, in 
some detail. 

As we have previously pointed out, the great aim 
should always be to secure such a continuity, coherence, 
3ystem, and unity, amongst the educating influences as 
will best develop these elements in the mind itself. 



504 EDUCATION 

--Another purpose, which has also been referred to, is 
the relating of knowledge subjects in such a way that a 
special interest in any particular subject shall act as a 
motive for, and stimulus in, the study of others. As 
Dr. De Garmo points out : " every child is sure to be 
interested in something, so that if he can see that other 
things are related to his favourite ones, life at once 
broadens before him." And, as appears from wbat was 
said about apperception, this inter-connection is the 
most ready, and only true, means of mentally inter- 
preting our experiences in the most significant way.7^ 
Again, since all knowledge inevitably becomes more 
or less directly and definitely related to conduct, the 
systematic organisation of it will have a very determin- 
ing influence upon the moral nature. Dr. Rein says : 
" Without such concentration of mental forces no moral 
character is conceivable," and Dr. De Garmo urges that ; 
" If knowledge lies in isolated tracts, it has in the first 
place little cumulative effect upon the motives of the 
child ; and in the second place, even if each separate 
tract should give rise to its own little round of interests 
and motives, there is small probability that the resulting 
acts of will would of themselves drop into a co-ordinated 
line of consistent actions." 

Another important aim arises in connection with the 
principle of proportion. There must be a limit to the 
number and the extent of the knowledge subjects 
which are used for educational purposes, or the pupil 
" not having time to digest any subject thoroughly, soon 
becomes a mere taster in all learning " (Dr. De Garmo). 
The more zealous we are for the highest success of 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 505 

practical education, the more necessary is it that we 
should take account of this. As Dr. De Garmo remarks : 
" Nothing appears more essential to our further advance, 
than a rigid examination of the curriculum, that indis- 
pensable parts may be properly related, and needless 
ones eliminated." 

The question as to what should be the great central 
subject from which all the others should be derived, 
and to which they should be referred, has already 
been discussed ; and reasons were given for holding 
that the beginnings of physical science form the true 
original germ of our earliest knowledge, and, therefore, 
must be this central subject. Dr. Rein, however, follow- 
ing Ziller, the original exponent of the principle, takes 
a different view, and regards literature as the true 
central subject. 

He therefore develops education on humanistic lines, 
i.e., from the point of view of literary culture. The 
following are the considerations (as given by Dr. De 
Garmo) on which he bases his selection : — 

" I. By following the order of the national culture, 
and presenting it in the light of ethical judgment, we 
shall call forth permanent interest in the developing 
child; hence, chronological progress from older and 
simpler, to newer and more complicated stages and 
conditions. 

"2. As a basis for this material we must use child- 
like classical, religious, literary and historical matter. 
1 Periods which no master has described, whose spirit 
no poet has breathed, are of small value for education ' 
(Herbart). Only classical presentations invite the 



506 EDUCATION 

pupil to constant and profitable repetitions ; they alone 
furnish nourishment for the interests and aspirations 
of children. Only through these does the past speak 
in full tones to the present. 

" 3. Only large, connected unities of subject-matter 
are able to arouse and keep alive the deep sympathy 
of the youthful mind, thereby contributing to the de- 
velopment of character. ' Great moral energy is the 
effect of entire scenes and unbroken thought masses ' " 
(Herbart). 

On this theory Dr. Rein has worked out a truly 
admirable scheme of educational work for the first eight 
years of school life. The following — from Dr. De Garmo's 
book on " Herbart "- — is the scheme for the first year : 

t( „ ,. f 1. Core of concentration ) Drawing, singing, number, 
C. 2. Nature-study ' reading, and writing. 

" 1. Ethical core of concentration; Grimm's Fairy 
Tales. These form the centre, or core, of instruction. 
The other branches are concentrated about them ; and 
by them the remaining topics are largely determined. 

" 2. Nature study. All the subjects that are sug- 
gested by the fairy tales, receiving a special illumina- 
tion from them and thereby awakening an intensified 
interest, are first chosen for treatment. School life and 
individual experience furnish much supplementary 
matter. (See list of object lessons below.) 

" 3. Drawing. For this purpose the objects men- 
tioned in the fairy tales, and in the nature-study are 
used. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 507 

" 4. Singing. The choice of songs is determined by 
the moods developed by instruction and by school life. 
The various songs must express emotion at fitting 
times. 

" 5. Number work. This is connected closely with 
the things that are considered in the various culture 
and nature subjects. 

" 6. Reading and writing. The material is chosen 
from the topics treated during instruction in fairy tales 
and nature-study." 

The object lessons referred to include thirty-two topics, 
of which brief outlines are given, as follows : 

" 1. Room. Four walls (names), ceiling, and floor. 
Protects from rain, wind, and cold. 

" 2. Bed. We lie in bed when tired, sick. Soft and 
warm in bed. We will not be sluggards. 

"3. Clothing. Names of parts of clothing. We 
wear clothing, (1) that we may not freeze, (2) that we 
need not be ashamed, (3) for adornment, (4) for carry- 
ing things. 

"4. Food. (1) There is much that we can eat. (2) 
We eat many things raw, many boiled, roasted, baked. 
(3) There are foods from flour, flesh, milk, fruits, leaves, 
roots." 

So the list goes on, and includes all the most familiar 
objects of the garden, field, wood, heavens, schoolhouse, 
and the home surroundings. 

We urge that instead of the fancied and impossible 
experiences suggested by fairy tales, the real experi- 
ences of child life, expanded and crystallised by educa- 
tional means, should be used. Our objections to the 



508 EDUCATION 

use of fairy tales have been set forth, and we need only 
add, that we hold that they should nowadays be looked 
upon, historically, as a kind of anthropological poetry ; 
or, from the literary standpoint, as delightful examples 
of poetic licence, bat as the last and most obscure, 
because fanciful, expressions of knowledge. 

There is another most valuable application of the 
principle, which seeks to co-ordinate the different 
grades of studies — primary, secondary, and higher — 
with each other. An extremely interesting and 
suggestive scheme of this character, by Dr. Otto Frick, 
in also given in Dr. De Garmo's book on "Herbart." 

The general order of subjects is : geography, natural 
history, history, German (the mother tongue), Latin, 
religion. This is a sequence which very largely corre- 
sponds to the views we have contended for. 

We will quote the scheme in so far as it deals with 
geography, natural history, and German (the centre of 
the whole). 

"A. — Primary Studies. Two Years. Age, io to 12. 
Fiest Year. 

" 1. Geography (first semester). The typical geo- 
graphical concepts illustrated by the home environ- 
ment. Introduction to understanding of relief, and 
the reading of a map. General lessons upon the globe. 

" (Second semester.) Division of the earth into land 
and water. General descriptive view of all the con- 
tinents 

il 2. Natural History. First introduction into sys- 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 509 

tematic observation of plant and animal life, according 
to chief types found in the child's environment. (Bio- 
logical home studies.) In summer the plants, in winter 
the animals, are brought to the front. 

" Enlivening of the geography heretofore presented. 

" Opening up of the home environment. The awaken- 
ing and cultivation of the feeling for nature and home 
surroundings. 

"3. German. A national reading book, part I. (with 
an appendix of the local or home environment), for 
extending and deepening the impression and concepts 
obtained in local geography and natural history. Pic- 
tures illustrating local traditions." 

Second Yeae. 

" 1. Geography. Lands. More minute descriptions 
(with an emphasis of geographical types). 

" (First semester.) Home province, and state, and the 
whole of Germany. 

" (Second semester.) The remainder of Europe. 

" 2. Natural History. Extension of observation to 
neighbouring regions in order to enlarge the observa- 
tion of plant and animal life according to important 
types. Extension of study to foreign lands. 

" In summer and winter as in first year. 

" 3. German. A national reading book, part II., 
corresponding to part I., but with stronger emphasis 
upon national history, legends, and historical poems 
from ancient and mediaeval German history. Charac- 
terisations of great historical personalities therein con- 
tained." 



510 EDUCATION 

B. — Secondary Studies. Four Years. Age, 12 

to 16. 

Third Year. 

" 1. Geography. Laud divisions. Extended descrip- 
tion (with emphasis of types) of non-European countries. 
Especial study of German Colonies. 

" 2. Natural Science. Elementary and general. 

"(First semester.) Physical geography. 

"(Second semester.) Geology (according to the scope 
and treatment of the subject in the books of Geikie- 
Schmidt). 

"3 German. The Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1 
in a form prepared for schools. A few of the most 
important war poems ; then furnished with material 
from Grecian history and culture, e.g., Geibel, Schiller 
(Ring des Polykr, Krainche des Ibycus)." 

The subjects are extended each year. In the fourth 
year Greek is added, in the fifth year physics is 
introduced, and in the sixth year geography becomes 
" not a subject to be taught, but a principle to be 
observed at every opportunity," whilst in German the 
following books are taken : Goethe's " Hermann 
und Dorothea;" Schiller's "Wilhelin Tell," "Jung- 
frau von Orleans," and " Maria Stuart." 

0. — Higher Studies. Age 16-19. 

Seventh Year. 

" 1 Geography. Not a subject to be taught, but a 
principle to be observed at every opportunity. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 511 

" 2 Natural Science. (First semester). Elements 
of chemistry. 

" (Second semester). Physics. 

" 3 German. (First semester.) Niebelungen Lied 
(und Gudrun). 

" (Second semester). Heliand, Walter von der Vogel- 
weide (selections — natural feeling, knightly service, 
Kaiser songs, God's service)." 

In the eighth year the outlines of mathematical 
geography are introduced under natural science, and 
" view of the inner development of German literature," 
under German. The ninth and last year includes a 
study of the " conception and nature of the cosmos 
(' nature as a whole moved and quickened by an inner 
power ')," as a natural science subject, and an " impres- 
sive gathering up of the important fundamental ideas 
presented in the instruction in German," as a literary 
subject. 

If what we have said about the principle of develop- 
ment be sound, it would appear that the application of 
the principle of inter-relation and inter-independence 
must be mainly regulated by two great truths, viz., 
that activity is necessary for experience, experience for 
ideas, and ideas for expressions, and also that there 
must, primarily at least, be progress from the concrete 
to the abstract. 

Our general scheme must therefore so order the 
educative influences and knowledge subjects, that the 
active powers are first engaged in such a way as to 
provide the fullest and most appropriate experiences 
for producing the required ideas. Next the ideas, as 



512 EDUCATION 

such, must be developed, and crystallised in verbal 
forms. This must apply to the scheme as a whole and 
to each part, as also must the movement from the con- 
crete to the abstract. 

A mode of applying the principle on these lines may 
be illustrated by an example. Taking the home as the 
concrete centre from which knowledge is to be primarily 
derived, because it is the practical centre of our life and 
interests, we should proceed as follows. 

1. Kindergarten. — First the child's receptivity and 
imitativeness must be made use of. The outlines of a 
model of a house can be imitated by stick-laying, and 
the whole structure reproduced in wooden bricks. 
What we may call its cubical outlines should be copied 
in cork and pea work. Weaving and paper-folding can 
be employed for making copies of household articles 
and ornaments. 

All these will, if properly used, cultivate the child's 
powers of observation, and its capacity for reproductive 
imitation. Ideas about the house, as such, must also 
be obtained, e.g., the necessity for protection from the 
weather, and how it is secured ; the functions of the 
roof, windows, chimney, etc. ; the special uses of the 
separate rooms, and their appropriate positions and 
furnishing ; and some very simple notions about the 
draining, ventilation, and cleaning of the house. This 
will be informational rather than inferential, and ac- 
cording to interest and familiarity, rather than inter- 
connection and sequence. 

2. Geography. — Next there must be an endeavour to 
introduce systematic information, as a preparation for 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 513 

systematic thought, i.e., science. We can now begin 
to pass over from the material to the symbolic, in a 
simple and obvious way. A clay model of a house, 
with its roof off, should be made, and from this the 
idea of the plan must be deduced, and then drawn. A 
suggestive way of getting the concrete idea of the 
meaning of the plan would be to have a wooden 
model of the "shell" of a house, and to rub the 
bottom parts with ink, and then press it on a piece of 
white paper. 

When the plan of the house has been developed then 
its surroundings should be similarly treated, the plan 
(or map) being coloured so as to distinguish the chief 
features. The points of the compass should be associ- 
ated with the sun's movements, and marked on the 
map. 

A further study of that which has been thus dealt 
with will introduce physical geography. Commercial 
and political geography can be approached through 
the local industries and institutions, the local habita- 
tions of which should be indicated on the model and 
map. 

3. Science. — The flowers and trees which are in the 
garden, or near the home ; the domestic animals ; and 
the warming and lighting of the house ; will serve as 
starting points for elementary ideas about botany, 
natural history, and physics, in the form of simple 
object lessons. Indeed, all the sciences can be thus 
approached from the objects and experiences met with 
in or about the home. 

4. Art. — Art in the wider sense of systematic work, 

2 k . 



514 EDUCATION 

or in the narrower sense of systematic expressions of 
the beautiful, is directly connected with the home life. 
The different trades which have to do with the domestic 
life, such as those of the butcher, baker, bricklayer, shoe- 
maker, tailor, and grocer, and the industries which they 
in turn depend upon, may all be dealt with. The beauty 
of the surrounding scenery at the various seasons of 
the year, and of pictures representing it ; the beauties 
of form in ornaments and articles of furniture ; and 
the grace and harmony of rhythmic movement and 
sound, are not difficult to bring into prominence, and 
so to arouse purposeful thought. 

5. Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. — These, as 
formal systems, should not be taken as subjects till 
after the foregoing, since, as systems of symbols, they 
have no real meaning, and can have no significant 
existence for the individual until the experience, ideas, 
and knowledge which they express are actually possessed 
by him. It is true that vocal and visual signs have 
been freely used, and must be so used, in the imparting 
of knowledge. But to use words as convenient marks 
of things and experiences, ideas, and knowledge, is 
very different from using them as a word system, i.e., 
as a series of signs which the learner must know how 
to spell, write, and connect according to recognised 
forms. 

Reading in the lower classes can be connected with 
the new words introduced by the kindergarten and 
object lessons ; indeed, the first reading lessons ought 
to be built up on the blackboard from the. verbal 
material used in these. This will not only serve to 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 515 

impress the new ideas more clearly and firmly upon 
the memory, but it will make the reading lesson have 
a reality and purpose for the child which nothing else 
can give it. 

Foreign languages are best learnt by thus directly 
associating words with things, and by using the mother 
tongue as a model and a means of transition. 

In the higher classes reading can be used to extend 
the information already gained about particular objects 
and processes. But this does not mean that reading, 
as a form of elocution and a means of culture, should 
be cultivated through such subject matter. These must 
be obtained through the best literature, which ought to 
be made to stimulate, nourish, and form, the literary 
tastes. 

The verbal accounts of lessons which are produced in 
the way suggested above, might very well be given as 
composition lessons, either reproductively through 
memory or dictation, or constructively, from a more or less 
full outline sketch. If these are preserved in special 
exercise books, they will form a self-made text-book — 
the very best of text-books for the beginner. 

Arithmetic can be very usefully associated with the 
object lessons. If the teacher gets some accurate 
information as to the number of slates to a square yard 
of roofing, the number of bricks to a square yard of 
wall, the cost of materials, and the like, a great many 
exercises in arithmetic could be devised. There is 
every reason for thus making arithmetic the channel 
of a great deal of correct information. The higher 
branches of mathematics, such as mensuration, geometry, 



516 EDUCATION 

arid trigonometry, cau be developed in connection with, 
the measurements of a house and its surroundings. 

6. Grammar. — This must come after reading and 
writing are somewhat advanced, inasmuch as it has to 
do with the science and art of verbal forms. Dealing 
with grammar in connection with its concrete basis — 
experiences and thoughts, the expressions for which it 
systematically and technically expounds, and regulates 
according to established usage — the educator can give 
grammar lessons implicitly by careful blackboard 
arrangements of subject and predicate, etc. These he 
can afterwards explicitly expound from the grammatical 
point of view. Such a method has the very great 
advantage of demonstrating and emphasing the relation 
between the symbol and the thing signified, whilst, at 
the same time, it lends itself most helpfully to dis- 
tinguishing between the study of words and the study 
of the things which they stand for. 

7. History. — Old houses, and old pictures of old 
buildings, people, and costumes, will serve as points of 
departure for history lessons. All survivals of former 
times invite comparison with their modern rivals. 
Old-fashioned customs and observances both stimu- 
late and partly satisfy the curiosity of the intelligent 
observer. 

The government of the home, as compared with that 
of the school, and any form of scholars' club or society, 
will introduce the elements of constitutional history. 
The study of the forms of local government should be 
the transition step to the wider field of national political 
institutions. The study of forms of government which 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 517 

affect large areas will lead to a fuller treatment of 
political geography. 

Of course all this must, in the early stages, be of a 
very concrete character — that is, it must consist chiefly 
of systematic descriptions of facts, and not attempts to 
explain the principles or philosophical truths of history. 

8. Morals. — The home life presents the best possible 
opportunity for conveying definite ideas about affec- 
tion, self-sacrifice, considerateness, kindness, generosity, 
justice, rights, and duties. At first the teaching should 
be of a concrete kind, and only in the higher classes 
ought there to be any attempt to begin to form any- 
thing like systematic abstract ideas about such matters 
— in other words, to teach ethics. 

It must be remembered that it is only the beginnings 
of knowledge which are to be thus derived from a central 
topic. It is as the natural, and therefore the most 
helpful and fruitful, starting point in the beginnings of 
knowledge that the greatest good can be obtained in 
this way. It is absolutely essential that the pupil 
should, as soon as he is able, take interest in, and learn 
about, facts more and more remote from the home. 
The development of one subject from another must be 
elaborated as much as possible. 

It must be admitted that the considerations involved 
in the drawing up of such plans for educational develop- 
ment are of the greatest possible practical importance, 
and that all the resources of a sound science of educa- 
tion — together with a mastery of, and power in apply- 
ing, its principles, by a capable expert — are needed for 
the satisfactory solution of such fundamental issues. 



518 EDUCATION 

Whatever is achieved in this direction — and much 
has already been done, and still more made possible, by 
the great thinkers and writers on education — will put 
the art of education on a scientific basis, and secure the 
greatest and the best practical results. 

Some General Eemarks. — The principles just discussed 
are recognised in the following quotations from the 
opinions of practical teachers. The principles of 
collectivism and individualism are involved in these 
words of Dr. Abbott : "Iu a school it is necessary for 
a class-teacher to consult the interests of the greatest 
number, slightly sacrificing the very dull, and still 
more the very clever, for the sake of the commonplace 
majority, and endeavouring to compensate the two 
extremes by a little extra attention out of class." 

Mr. Landon says : " In order that the instruction 
given to a class may be so suited to every member of 
it that no one is unduly pressed, and no one neglected, 
the level of attainment and of intellectual power must 
be fairly uniform throughout." (The Principles and 
Practice of Teaching.) Comenius advises, " that those 
pupils only be admitted into the same class who are of 
equal advancement, and that they be admitted at the 
same time " (Laurie). 

Dr. Pitch points out the dangers of too early applica- 
tion of the principle of individualism in the following 
passages : " Do you not, in looking back on your own 
mental life, feel thankful that you were forced to learn 
things for which, you had no special appetite, and 
which a scientific analyst of your yet unformed character 
and tastes might have declared to be unsuited to you ? " 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 519 

The Eev. M. Gr. Glazebrook, writing of specialisation, 
remarks : " When a boy of moderate ability reaches the 
age of sixteen it is generally clear that he has a pre- 
ference for some one subject .... A little more than 
half of the school hours should be devoted to the 
special subject, but the rest should be strictly reserved 
for supplementary studies. These latter should be so 
planned as to train different faculties without the dis- 
traction caused by multiplicity of subjects " (Thirteen 
Essays on Education). 

Speaking of the advantages of forming good habits 
in children, Locke says : " By this method we shall 
see whether what is required of him be adapted to his 
capacity, any way suited to the child's natural genius 
and constitution : for that too must be considered in a 
right education." 

In condensiDg Pestalozzi's ideas into educational 
maxims, Morf gives this as one of them : " The indi- 
viduality of a child is sacred." Comenius has the 
following practical rules, , which are clearly based on 
collectivism : " Let there be only one teacher for a 
school, or at least for a class. In one subject, let there 
be but oue author (i.e., let " all be taught from the 
same books "). Let one and the same labour be ex- 
pended on the whole of the pupils present (i.e., let " all 
the scholars .... do the same thing at the same 
time"). Let all disciplines and tongues be taught 
according to one and the same method " (Laurie). 

The principle of proportion is set forth by Mr. 
Landon thus : " The teacher must work with the pupil, 
not for him. Take his hand, beguile the tediousnes3 



520 EDUCATION 

of the way, allow proper rest, and do not hurry or 
overstrain him ; but see that he walks, do not carry 
hirn." Nicole (loth century) one of the Port-Eoyalists 
writes : " The greatest minds have but a limited range 
of intelligence. In all of them there are regions of 
twilight and shadow ; but the intelligence of the child 
is almost wholly pervaded by shadows ; he catches 
glimpses of but few rays of light. So everything 
depends on managing these rays, on increasing them, 
and on exposing to them whatever we wish to have 
the child comprehend " (Compayre). 

Comenius suggests the principle of proportion in the 
following maxim : " Nature preserves, between root 
and branches, a true proportion in respect of quantity 
and quality " (Laurie). And Quintilian shrewdly 
remarks : " We can scarcely believe how progress in 
• reading is retarded by attempting to go too fast." 

That we ought not to press the principle of analysis 
and synthesis too far is implied by Canon Daniel when 
he says : " There are many facts which admit of no 
explanation ; there are others which, if taught to 
children at all, must be received by them, at first, on 
authority. " Of the need for alternation of work and 
play, the same writer remarks: "We are too apt to 
look upon recreation as a mere concession to the weak- 
ness of children. As a matter of fact, it is as much a 
part of education as school work is .... If work and 
play be well proportioned, each will be a recreation to 
the other." And the limits of the principle of nourish- 
ment are indicated by him in these words : " Teachers 
will do well to remember that it is expedient for 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 521 

children to leave off a mental, as a bodily meal, with 
an appetite, and that in this, as in many other matters, 
' the half is more than the whole.' " 

Plato has expressed the influence of the environment 
in these words : " Let our artists be rather those who 
are gifted to discern the true nature of the beautiful 
and graceful; then will our youth dwell in aland of 
health, amid fair sights and sounds, and receive the 
good in everything ; and beauty, the effluence of fair 
works, shall flow into the eye and ear, like a health- 
giving breeze from a purer region, and insensibly draw 
the soul from earliest years into likeness and sympathy 
with the beauty of reason." 

We should again remind ourselves that the foregoing 
discussions are but outlines of the matters with which 
they deal. Our aim has been rather to indicate the 
science and its most important constituent units than 
to attempt even a fairly full treatment of any one item. 
The relations of education to ethics, logic, and physiology 
have been deliberately excluded, except in so far as inci- 
dental references were demanded by the topic in hand. 

It must be remembered that education is the science, 
and teaching the art. One may be a good teacher and 
a poor educationist, or a good educationist and a poor 
teacher. He who would have true excellence in either 
must be sound in both. 

Education, like all other sciences, is progressive. 
We are constantly obtaining more profound, extensive, 
and accurate knowledge about human beings in par- 
ticular, and also about things in general. There is, 
therefore, always the occasion and need for investigat- 



522 EDUCATION 

ing the educational significance of new ideas. This 
must ever be so, for the activities of the universe are 
constantly producing fresh modifications of the total 
complex. Science knows nothing of finality, except 
as annihilation, and it knows nothing of annihilation. 



APPENDIX 



The following short list of books is offered as a suggestion 
lor further reading. It is recommended that the volumes be 
read in the order in which they are arranged. 

Lectures on Teaching. Part I. Compayre. Isbister, 6s. 

The Teacher's Handbook of Psychology. Sully. 
Longmans, 5s. 

Apperception. Lange. Isbister, 3s. 6d. 

The Essentials of Method. De Gaemo. Isbister. 2s. 6d. 

Habit in Education. Radestock. Isbister, 2s. 6d. 

Outlines of Pedagogics. Rein. Sonnenschein, 3s. 

Introduction to Herbart's Science and Practice of 
Education. Felkin. Sonnenschein, 4s. 6d. 

The Science of Education. Heebart. Sonnenschein, 
4s. 6d. 

Herbart. De Garmo. Heinemann, 5s. 

Elements of General Method. McMurry. Kellogg & 
Co., New York, 75c. 

Education. Herbert Spencer. Williams &, Nor gate, 
2s. 6d. 

Education as a Science. Chapters 1-7. Bain. ICegan 
Paul, 5 s. 



J 24 APPENDIX 

Essays on Educational Reformers. Quick. Longmans, 
3s. 6d. 

The History of Pedagogy. Compayre\ Sonnenschein, 6s. 

Institutes of Education. S. S. Laurie. Thin, 5s. 

Comenius. S. S. Laurie. Clay & Sons, 3s. 6d. 

The Child and Child Nature. Bulow. Sonnenschein 
3s. 

The Student's Froebel. Parts I. and II. Herford. 
Isbister, 2s. 6d. each. 

The Life of Pestalozzi. De Guimps. Sonnenschein, 6s. 

Emile. Rousseau. Edward Arnold, 6s. 

Education and Heredity. Guyau. Walter Scott, 3s. 6d. 

Education from a National Standpoint. Fouillee. 
Edward Arnold, 7s. 6d. 

The Philosophy of Education. Rosenkranz. Edward 
Arnold, 6s. 

Method in Education. Rosmini. Isbister, 5s. 

Levana. Richter. Sonnenschein, 3s. 

First Three Years of Childhood. Perez. Sonnenschein, 
4s. 6d. 

The Senses and the Will. Preyer. Edward Arnold, 6s. 

The Development of the Intellect. Preyer. Edward 
Arnold, 6s. 

Story of Primitive Man. Clodd. JSfewnes, Is. 

Primitive Culture. 2 Volumes. Tylor. Murray, 21s. 

Folk-lore for Everybody. Cox. Nutt, 3s. 6d. 



INDEX 



Abbott, Db. : on repetition and 
preparation, 152 

on words and ideas, 422 
on difficulties in teaching, 

432 
on gradation in teaching, 

435 
on need of relaxation, 492 
on individual teaching, 518 
Abstract, the : in education, 217 
its dependence on the con- 
crete, 218 
Action : nature springs of, 127 
development of, 184 

see principle of doing, 224 
Adjustment : need of time for, 
120 
and habit, 135 
Analysis : nature of, 336 

in progress from indefinite 
to definite, 408 
Analysis and synthesis: principle 

of," 335 
Animism : in child and race, 406 
Apperception : what it involves, 
307 

definition of, 309 
how determined, 310 
Apperceptive group : what it is, 
310 

domination of an, 311 
forming of, 332 
Aristotle : on education, 39 
on leisure, 236 
on overtraining, 267 
on development, 271 



A mold, Matthew : on culture, 490 
Ascham, Roger : on preparation, 

151 
Assimilation : and discrimina- 
tion, growth of, 106 

need of time for, 120 

what it involves, 291 

deepest forms of, 336 

conditions of, 438 
Association : what it is, 71 

what the result of, 71 

and attention, 73 

conditions for force of, 73 

an element of knowing, 73 

of ideas, 278 
Attention : nature of, 64 

as mental digestion, 65 

kinds of, 65 

pre-adjustment of, 66 

and association, 73 

its functions, 74 

and assimilation. 307 
Average, the : and the normal, 
474 



R 



Baby, The: some characteristics 

of, 160, 204, 277, 282, 345 
Bain, Dr. : on interest in educa 
tion, 130 

on progress from known to 

unknown, 205 
on learning, 228 
on juxtaposition, 338 
on self-effort in education, 

345 
on value of information, 413 



526 



INDEX 



Basedow : on the concrete in 

teaching, 272 
Bauer : on education, 40 
Belief: a condition of willing, 84 
Books : their function in educa- 
tion, 247, 251, 422 
Bribery : in education, 240, 245 
BufEon: on the hand and reason, 
235 



c 



Chadwick, E., Mr.: on hours of 

study for children, 94 
Character : what it is, 86 
and self-activity, 137 
Child : some characteristics of, 
60, 78, 163, 172, 203, 239, 254, 
282, 323, 343, 482 
Child-study : some remarks on, 

478 
Choice : a form of willing, 84 
Class-teaching : economy of, 468, 
471 

limits of, 468 
Clearness : in education, 429 
Co-education : remarks on, 466 
Cognition : immediate, 296 
Collectivism : principle of, 463 
its basis, 467 
how realised, 469 
effects of, 471 
limits of, 473 
Comenius : on education, 40 

on connection of subjects, 

103 
on repetition, 151 
on simplicity, 208, 273 
on order in teaching, 212 
some maxims of, 224 
on play, 236 
on pleasure and pain in 

education, 255 
on progress from general to 

individual, 400 
on pansophism, 415 
on words and things, 437 
on class uniformity, 518 
on collective teaching, 518 



Comenius : on proportion in edu 

cation, 520 
Communication : in education, 
34 

as a source of knowledge, 

374 
dangers of, 375 
Compayre : on education, 19 

on history of education. 31 
Concepts : 285 

development of, 300 
association of, 302, 305 
formation of, 302 
definition of, 304 
kinds of, 323 
how to evolve, 324 
value of process in, 327 
Concrete, the : first influences 
child, 104 

ideas from, 104 
as mental food, 108 
relation to abstract, 218 
Consciousness : margin of, 71 
Continuum : what it is, 289 
Control : kinds of, 238 

must allow freedom, 242 
through rewards, 244 
through suggestion, 247 
dangers of, 248 
Cram : nature and definition of, 

359 
Crichton-Browne, Sir J. : on 
education without pressure, 
493 
Culture value : remarks on, 107 
subjects which involve it, 

113 
and interest, 129 
not to be neglected, 415 
Curriculum : how far common, 
469 

number and kind of subjects 
in, 470 

D 

Daniel, Evan, Canon : on exer- 
cise and pleasure, 152 
on pain in education, 274 



INDEX 



527 



Daniel, Evan, Canon : on use of 
the senses, 328 

on authority in teaching, 
520 

on mental surfeit, 520 
Development : what it is, 89, 202 

and knowledge, 100 

what first influenced by, 100 

of knowledge, 105 

and growth, 106 

of assimilation and discrimi- 
nation, 106 

and self-activity, 138 

general nature of, 153, 156 

predominance in, 154 

stages of, 155 

differences in, 155 

in race and individual, 1 57 

individual elements of, 159 

of feeling, 160 

of knowing, 164, 172 

of willing,l65, 171, 179 

and environment, 178 

of action, 184 

in the race, 196 

similar in wholes and parts, 
197 

when practically perfect, 
199 

of thought, 198 

our knowledge of, 199 

involves decay, 200 

as basis of educational prin- 
ciples, 201 

of ideas, 275, 318 

as gradation, 427 

principle of, 201, 322, 392 
Deduction : process of, 189, 305 

relation to induction, 190 

as criticism, 418 
De Garmo, Dr. : on progress from 
individual to general ideas, 
322 

on law of successive clear- 
ness, 429 

on language and thought, 
434 

on gradation in education, 
435 



De Garmo, Dr.: on concentra- 
tion and relation, 504 
Deliberation : a form of willing, 

83 
Desire : an element of willing, 84 
Determinants : of mental growth 
and development, 438 

general, 438 

kinds of, 440 

how to be used, 443 

in character, 444 

in race, 445 

in self, 448 

in experience, 452 

in environment, 458 

in stimuli, 459 
Difference : in men, 461 

its importance, 463 

its universality, 448 
Difficulty : what it consists in, 
207 

its function in education, 
432 
Discipline value : what it is, 107 

and exercise, 109 

results of, 111 

and interest, 128 

in information, 414 
Discovery : and self-activity, 141 

its function in education, 
339 
Discrimination : growth of, 106 

need of time for, 120 

of things, 278 

and assimilation, 291 

is fundamental, 336 

a condition of knowledge, 
381 
Doing : principle of, 224 

perversion of, 227 



E 



Edgewokth, Miss : on too much 
novelty, 131 

Education: origin and develop- 
ment of, 1 
tradition in, 2 



528 



INDEX 



Education : Babylonian, Chinese, 
and Hindu, 6 

scope of, 9 

domestic, 10 

professional, 12 

libera], 13 

Babylonian, Egyptian, Chi- 
nese, 13 

necessity for, 15 

what it is not, 18 

what it is, 19 

definition of, 20 

usual time for, 22 

of youth and adult, 23 

value of history of, 25, 31 

as a derived science, 26 

function of, 32 

and progress of the race, 32 

through truth rather thau 
error, 35 

and intercourse, 34 

aim of, 37 

ends of, 38, 41 

and religion, 41 

and social life, 113, 116 

physical, 228 

always progressive, 521. 
Educational values: their nature, 
107 

their kinds, 108 

their functions, 117 
Educationist an : what is meant 
by, 481 

not necessarily a teacher, 
500 
Educator, the: nature as, 36 

aim of, 37 

as stimulator, 91 

as selector, 127 

as controller, 240 
Element : what it is, 55 

meaning of fundamental, 
149 
Emotion : what it is, 58 

definition and examples of, 
59 
Emulation: in education, 251, 

472 
Encyclopsedism: in education, 415 



Environment : influence of, 104 
452 

physical, 453 
social, 455 
rational, 457 
Equation, the personal : discount 

of, in thought, 121 
Erasmus: on pleasure in learning, 
150 

on nourishment, 150 
Euclid: its value in education, 

110 
Exercise : necessity of, 109 
Experience : in child, 61 

unpleasant, inevitable, 97, 

256 
the basis of knowledge, 396 
and development, 452 



P 



Fairy Tales : in education, 403 
dangers of, 403, 406, 408 
aim and period of, 405 
their value, 406 
right materials for, 407 

Feeling: example of, 45 
nature of, 55 
not definable, 55 
kinds of, 56 

egoistic and altruistic, 60 
a guide to action, 61 
expanded by knowledge. 61 
as based on judgment, 62 
and sympathy, 62 
as motive, 83 
not to be too uniform, 96 
assimilation of, 97 
can be aroused, 98 
and interest, 130 
development of, 160, l s 0, 
193 

Fitch, Dr. : on self-tuition, 152 
on value of information, 433 
on dangers of specialisation, 
518 

Fowler, Dr. : on crucial experi- 
ments, 396 



INDEX 



52.9 



Freedom : in education, 237 
Freeman, Professor : on need of 

meaning for words, 434 
Froebel : on education, 140 

the spirit and method of his 

kindergarten, 105 
on the importance of action, 

225 
on child's self-efforts, 345 
Frick, Otto, Dr. : a scheme of in- 
struction, 508 



G 

Gakve : on education, 39 
Generalisation : in children, 167 

rational, 187, 192 
Geography : educational order in, 

396 
Glazebrook, M. G., Eev. : on 

specialisation, 519 
Goetze, Dr. : on doing and know- 
ing, 233 
Gradation : in education, 207 
principle of : 425 
involved in other principles, 

427, 431 
important points of, 428 
Grammar : educational order in. 

396 
Greard, M. : on the concrete in 

education, 216 
Growth : what is meant by, 89 



H 

Habit : what it is, 85 

as mental economy, 85 
as perfect mental develop- 
ment, 132 
as register of development, 

133 
and power, 133 
how formed, 133 
illustration of, 135 
function of, 136 
and self-activity, 138 



Habituation, principle of : 132 
how realised, 133 
illustration of, 135 
its application, 137 
Herbart : on interest, 123 
on control, 239 
on relation of teacher to 

pupil, 242, 247, 250 
on growth of self-depend- 
ence, 254 
on collective education, 473 
on individual education, 487 
on relation of individual to 
collective education, 494 
Heredity : in body and mind, 447 
and individuality, 450 
dangers of, 451 
Hertel, Dr. : on relaxation in 

education, 492 
Heydem-ich : on education, 39 
History : educational order in, 

397 " 
Hoffding, Dr. : on distinctness of 
ideas, 380 

on individuality, 449 
Huxley .Professor: on information 
and education, 433 
on culture, 490 
on understanding Shake- 
speare, 490 
on mental relaxation, 491 



Ideals : in education, 140, 252 
Ideas : development of, 275, 320 
beginnings of, 277 
practical, 279 
abstract or rational, 280, 32 
elements of, 284, 333 
of space, 293 
and attention, 307 
groups of, 310 
association of, 310 
and language, 312, 358 
relation of elements of, 318 
concrete general, 329, 
first, 396 



2l 



530 



INDEX 



Illustration (examples) : 

caution as to use of, 149 
of primitive education, 3 
of development of art 

through science, 9 
of mental elements, 45 
of how to study mind, 52 
of obliviscence, 69 
of sub-consciousness, 70 
of association, 72 
of law of increasing and 

diminishing returns, 92 
of principle of inter-depen- 
dence and inter-relation, 
105 
of utility value, 115 
of principle of preparation, 

120 
of too much novelty, 131 
of growth of habit, 135 
of neglect of principle of 

self-activity, 139 
of child's knowledge, 169, 

176, 191 
of progress from known to 

unknown, 203, 205, 394 
of progress from simple to 

complex, 209, 396 
of progress from concrete 

to abstract, 219, 324 
of growth in self-depen- 
dence, 252 
of percept elements, 298 
of concept elements, 303 
of apperception, 307 
of progress from particular 

to general, 330 
of child's inventiveness, 
and how to encourage it, 
341 
of principle of analysis and 

synthesis, 348 
of progress in verbal sym- 
bolism, 356 
of intuitions, 371 
of ambiguity of words, 378 
of growth of knowledge, 

383 
of distinct ideas, 388 



Illustration (examples) : 

of concrete deductive rea- 
soning, 418 
of inductive reasoning, 27, 

420 
of how to influence a par- 
ticular form of develop- 
ment, 443 
of individuality, 449 
of influence of environment, 
458 
Images : association of, 279 

generic, 279 
Imagination : in children, 166, 
169 
in young people, 186 
Immediateness : in knowledge, 

372 
Imitation : in children, 171 

development of, 185 
Impulse : a form of willing, 84 
Individual, the : and social life, 

114 
Individualism : principle of, 475 
relation to collectivism, 476, 

485 
not to be exaggerated, 494 
Individuality : a mystery, 449 
and heredity, 450 
how developed, 450 
over-development of, 451 
and racial progress, 475 
and general conditions, 476 
not easily known, 478 
nature and value of, 478, 

483, 485 
when asserted, 487 
not to be exaggerated, 488 
Induction : process of, 27, 187 
relation to deduction, 190 
as criticism, 419 
Infant : (see baby). 
Influences : classes of, 142, 221 

function of in education, 410 
Information : its value, 413 
culture value in, 415 
principle of, 409 
Institutions for teaching adults : 
their functions. 416 



INDEX 



531 



Instruction: primitive, 2 

and education, 18, 21 
Interest : what it is, 82 

kinds of, 82, 125 

conditions for, 83, 128 

relation to knowledge and 
sympathy, 125 

native to man, 127 

is self- satisfying, 129 

and development of know- 
ing, and feeling, 130 

necessity of, 131 

elements of, 132 

and self-activity, 138 

principle of, 122 

its relation to willing, 122 

some effects of, 123 
Inter-relation : of principles, 145 

and inter-dependence, prin- 
ciple of : 100, 503 

its importance, 104, 517 

Froebel's idea of, 105 

example of, 205 

and interest, 504 

and conduct, 504 

schemes to realise, 505 

function of, 511 
Introspection, 53 
Intuition : what it is, 294, 369 

of things, 294 

elements of, 294 

definition of, 370 

classes of, 370 
Invention : in education. 340 



Jacotot : his great principle, 

269, 272 
Jean Paul : on child's knowledge. 

204 
Jesuits : on repetition, 151 



K 

Kant : on self-activity, 139 



Kindergarten : its spirit and 

method, 105, 436 
Knowledge : how given, 99 

and development, 100 

and interest, 125 

when most effective, 144 

what it is, 275, 301 

elements of, 306 

development and sources of, 
368 

stages of, 380 

a unit of, 392 

first units of, 396 
Knowing : example of, 46 

nature of, 63 

development of, 164, 172, 
186 

in children, 169 

and bodily growth, 177, 
193 

scientific form of, 186 



Landon, Mr. : on class uni- 
formity, 518 

on co-operation of teacher 
and pupil, 519 
Lange, Karl, Dr. : on child's 
knowledge, 204 

on activity and knowledge, 

232 
on figures of speech, 363 
on influence of environment, 

455 
on nationality in education, 

464 
on individuality in educa- 
tion, 488 
Language : and thought, 191, 
314, 320 

probable origin of, 312 

development of, 312 

necessity of, 313 

as mental algebra, 314 

economy of, 316 

dangers of, 316, 353 

aid to progress of ideas, 334 



532 



INDEX 



Language : learning a foreign, 
352 
racial development in, 354 
how to educate child in, 

356 
gesture, 362 
contraction of, 362 
cannot form ideas, 363 
and principle of pleasure, 

364 
a means of criticism, 4 1 7 
need of gradation in, 422 
Latin : former idea of its value, 
28 

present idea of its value, 413 
Laurie, S. S., Professor : on de- 
velopment, 202 

on analysis and synthesis, 

347 
on encyclopsedism, 415 
Law of increasing and diminish- 
ing returns : in education, 
91 
Lazarus : on invention by chil- 
dren, 342 
Learning: not a passive process, 

225 
Leibnitz : on obscure notions, 
385 

on confused and distinct 

knowledge, 389 
on adequate knowledge, 
391 
Leisure : its value in education, 

235 
Lindner : on intuitions, 371, 373 

on mental clearness, 380 
Localisation : of percepts, 293 
Locke : on habit, 134, 152 

on educating and informing, 

414 
on individuality in educa- 
tion, 519 
Logic: in education, 417 (see 
also deduction and induction) 
Lyttleton, E., Hon. Rev.: on dis- 
covery in education, 366 



M 

Man, primitive : his nature and 

development, 196 
Maxims of education : as to self- 
activity, 137 

from the known to the un- 
known, 202, 393 
from the simple to the com- 
plex, 207, 395 
from the concrete to the 

abstract, 212, 322,393 
from the particular to the 

general, 328, 399 
from the indefinite to the 
definite, 401 
McMurry, C.A., Dr.: on vigour 
of thought in education, 401 
on encyclopajdism, 415 
Memory : what it is, 67, 71, 119 
kinds of, 67 
as recollection, 68 
and repetition, 69 
growth and decay of, 69 
its development, 119 
higher form of, 310 
Metaphvsics : what it is, 51, 

192 
Method : the inductive, 27 
of practical education 
ignored, 88 
Miall, L. C. , Professor : on help- 
lessness, 139 

on self-effort in education, 

365 
on simplicitv in education, 
427 
Mind : what it is, 42, 48 
three elements of, 45 
growth of, 49 
activities of, 50 
definition of, 52 
how to study it, 52 
on active organism, 64, 75 
over-exhaustion of, 92 
nourishment of, 95 
development of, 101 
highest type of, 112 
relation of its powers, 311 



EN HEX 



533 



Montaigne: on early scholars, 

28 
Mutive : a condition of willing, 

81 

and feeling, 83 



N 

Nationality : in education, 464 
Nature : as educator, 36 

as educational stimulator, 
90 
Normal, the : what it is, 87 

and average, 474 
Nourishment : its elements of 
value, 107 

in what subjects small, 110 

and interest, 130 

what it is, and how received, 

439 
principle of, what it in- 
volves, 94 
Novelty : the need of, 118 

emphasised for the young, 
131 



o 



Object : physical, analysis of 

idea of, 294 
Obliviscence : what it is, 68 
Over-elaboration : danger of in 

education, 266 
Owen, Isambard, Dr. : on doing 

and knowing, 234 
on vague ideas, 385 



Page, Mr. : on self-effort in 

education, 344 
Pain : an element of feeling, 57 
accumulation of, 58 
function of, 256 
nature of, 258 

when necessary in education, 
259 



Pain : forms of, 262, 266 
how to use it, 263 
principle of, 256 
Pansophism : in education, 415 
Passion : what it is, 59 
Perez, M. : on child and similarity, 

463 
Percept : what it is, 284, 290 
the elements of, 291 
definition of, 297 
and inferences, 297 
an individual thing, 328 
Pestalozzi : oa^education, 40 
on pain in education, 274 
on development, 324 
on circle of knowledge, 

399 
on progress from individual 

to general ideas, 400 
on individuality, 519 
Philosophy : what it is, 51, 192 
Plato : on education, 39 
on development, 157 
on invention in education, 

364 
on influence of environment, 
521 
Play : its function in education, 

491 
Pleasure : an element of feeling, 
57 

accumulation and effects of, 

58 
excess of, 98 
relation to feeling, knowing, 

and wiliiog, 100 
principle of : 97, 496, 499 
and principle of doing, 230, 

497 
and principle of symbolism, 

364 
and culture value, 498 
and social life, 500 
Plutarch : on education, 40 
Preparation: principle of, 119 
Priest, the : as teacher, 3 
Presentation : definition of, 289 
how interpreted, 102, 117 
described, 55, 284 



534 



INDEX 



Presentation: intensity of, 286 
kinds of, 289 
continuum, 289 
an individual thing, 328 
Piinciples : discoveredand estab- 
lished in practice, 147 
Proof : nature of, 188 
Progress: in self-dependence, 252 
in child's ideas, 381 (also see 
development) 
Proportion : in education, 269 
in educational values, 490 
in information, 491 
of collective and individual 

elements, 493 
principle of : 489 
applied to other principles, 
495 
Psychologv : assumptions of, 42, 
48 

a natural science, 43 
definition of, 51 



Q 



Quick, Mr. : on use of words in 
schools, 360 

on words and ideas, 366 
Quintillian : on education, 40 

on interest, 151 

on making haste slowly, 520 



R 

Ratke : on inter-relation of 
knowledge, 151 

Reading : educational order in, 
398 

Reason : the practical, 299 

Reasoning : what it is, 75 

perceptual, 299 (see deduc- 
tion and induction) 

Recollection : what it is, 68 

Recreation : its value in educa- 
tion, 235 

Re Heel inn : a source of know- 
ledge, 374 



Rein, Dr. : on government of 
children, 239 

on nationality in education, 

465 
on concentration and con- 
duct, 504 
his basis and scheme of in- 
struction, 505 
Repetition : mental effects of, 117 
need of novelty in, 118 
and association, 1 19 
its importance, 119 
principle of, 117 
Responsibility: in education, 439 
Representation : what it is, 68 

relation to presentation, 117 
Resolution: a form of willing, 85 
Restraint : in education, 237 
Rousseau : on infancy, 202 

on education of senses, 213, 

215 
on self-development, 351 
on child's use of words, 354 
on the gain of losing time, 

426 
on ideas and symbols, 437 
on what it is best to know, 
491 



S 



Self, the : and interest, 124 

realisation of ideal, 145 

as its own determinant, 458 

as its own stimulus, 459 
Self -activity ; connection with 
interest and habit, 137 

results of neglect of, 139 

and willing, 140 

and discovery, 141 

necessary to knowledge, 232 

principle of, 137 
Self-consciousness : development 

of, 190 
Self-control : through externals, 
238 

through ideals, 252 
Self-dependence : its value, 249 

growth of, 252 



INDEX 



535 



Self-development : 350 

Seneca : on education. 39 

Sensation : a presentation, 53 

description of, 54 

intensity of, 286 

extensity of, 293 

Senses : education of, 212 

as sources of knowledge, 225 
training of, 228 
Sentiments : nature of, 63 
development of, 193 
as means of control, 242, 
251 
Sex : in education, 466 
Schmidt, Karl : on education, 39 
School : early form of, 3 
Schoolcraft, H. R. : on Indian 

education, 3 
" School Field Magazine " : some 

contents of, 342 
Schoolroom : need of, 96 
the world in, 34, 101 
Schiller : on self-activity, 232 
Sciences : from the arts, 7 

earliest forms of knowledge, 

104 
value in education, 110, 216 
Sidgwick, A. , Mr. : on doing, in 

education, 273 
Similarity : of mental powers, 
445 

in racial qualities, 445 
in groups for education, 446 
its universality, 448 
essential to knowledge, 448 
nature of, 448 
in men, 461 

is of most importance, 463 
educational significance of, 
463 
Simple, the : in education, 207, 

395 
Space : the idea of, 293 
Specialisation : is not individual- 
isation, 473 
its importance, 486 
period for, 487 
Spencer, Herbert, Mr. : the con- 
crete in education, 217 



Spencer, Herbert, Mr.: on plea 
sure of action, 230 

on natural consequences, 

263 
on child and generalisation, 

331 
on self-development, 344, 

350 
on progress from indefinite 

to definite, 401 
on mental heredity, 448 
Stein : on education, 19 
Stimulation : principle of, 89 
gradation in, 90 
and nature 90 
Stimuli : their nature, 459 
Stow, David : on use of words in 

teaching, 434 
Sub-consciousness : what it is, 
69 
and attention, 70 
Sully, Dr. : on history of educa- 
tion, 32 

on interest in education, 130 
on habits, 134 
on distinct ideas, 388 
• on words and ideas, 425 
Sympathetic control : principle 

of, 236 
Sympathy : and interest, 125 

in collective education, 471 
Symbolism : principle of, 351, 

417 
Synthesis : nature of, 336 



T 



Teacher, a : in early times, 2, 5 
what is meant by, 481 
not necessarily an educa- 
tionist, 521 

Teaching : a primitive art, 2, 6 
growth of art of 7, 13 

Text-books : use of in education, 
247, 251, 422 

Thought : its origin, 314 
and language, 314 
and will, 314 



536 



INDEX 



Thought : and feeling-, 315 
and percepts, 315 
and images, 315 
Thring, Mr. : on use of words, 
367' 

on thought and words, 434 
on proportion in education, 
495 
Time : in education, 120, 124 
Tradition : in education, 2, 404 
Training : mental and physical, 
108, 
of senses, 228 
Tyndall, Professor: on self-effort 
in learning, 343 

u 

Uebeeweg : on knowledge, 368 
Utility value : what it is, 107, 
113 

how judged, 113 

how imparted, 116 

and interest, 129 



w 

Ward, J. Dr. : on education, 19 

on distinctness of ideas, 381 

Watson, Foster, Professor : on 

value of history of education, 

31 



Weber (and Fechner): law of, 228 
Welldon, J. E. C, Mr. : on words 

and ideas, 422 
Wells, H. G. , Mr. : on sympathetic 
control, 246 

on analysis and synthesis, 

365 
on use of books in educa- 
tion, 424 
Widgery, W. H., Mr. : on doing 
in education, 273 

on sympathetic control, 273 
Wilderspin : on training the 

senses, 272 
Willing : an example of, 47 
what it is, 75 
kinds of, 77, 79 
origin of higher forms, 78 
elements of, 81 
higher forms of, 87 
and interest, 122 
and self-activity, 140 
development of, 165, 179 
and the body, 193 
Wormwell, R., Dr. : on kinder- 
garten principles, 436 



Y 

Youth : some characteristics of, 
23, 181, 252 



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